


Secrets

by LittleCreatureLaughing



Category: Twilight Series - Stephenie Meyer
Genre: Alternate Universe - Character Changes, Bella Jacob and Leah are not who you think they are, Bella but can take care of herself, Bella but with a personality, Bella's got a secret, Edward is an unreliable narrator, Edward learns to respect boundaries, Edward's POV, F/M, all the female characters have been tweaked, but first we angst, excuse my dust while I clean up years-old writing, lots of cute fluff eventually, well not Alice because she is perfect
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-11
Updated: 2021-02-25
Packaged: 2021-03-07 20:34:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 20
Words: 50,556
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26943745
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LittleCreatureLaughing/pseuds/LittleCreatureLaughing
Summary: "She knows. She knows?"A Twilight AU that follows the canon storyline but with both major and minor changes to the original story, the biggest of which is that this isn't the Bella Swan we've all read about before. Edward's POV.
Relationships: Edward Cullen/Bella Swan, all usual canon pairings
Comments: 50
Kudos: 127





	1. Silence

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally posted on fanfiction.net an embarrassing number of years ago, and still exists there to this day - though unfinished. In posting here, I'll be not only finally finishing the story but will also be making quite a few changes. If you read it on fanfiction.net, please do not reveal any details in comments until the appropriate chapter so others can enjoy this work spoiler-free.

There was very little I had to break the tedium of high school. The same dull teachers, the same immature students, the same subjects I'd studied a dozen times before... the same scores of chattering voices I had to struggle to block to keep them from pouring through my mind like a flooded river and taking my sanity away with them.

Lunch was the worst part of the day. Distance dulled most minds, so during a class I only had to work to keep out the thoughts of the twenty or so minds of my fellow classmates while the rest was merely an indistinct murmur in the background. However, here in the cafeteria during lunch, the babble of thoughts was so thick I could nearly see it.

Today it was harder than usual. Against the backdrop of the usual thoughts about homework, relationships, and rebellion against parents there were some relatively new thoughts, poking at my mind insistently though even though I'd already heard several times throughout the day. In a town as small as this even a single new person is noticeable, and today had blessed the dull population with an apparently particularly interesting distraction: the niece of our police chief.

I had caught several glimpses of Isabella Swan in the minds of others and could see nothing special about her, certainly nothing to inspire the fake friendship offered by several of the girls and the developing lust in several of the boys. Her sheer newness must account for it. It would fade soon enough, hopefully before I had to endure many more fantasies about her.

There were only four minds in the room I tried to block out of courtesy instead of for my own sanity: my family, my "siblings" who were trapped with me in this dull torture. However, a combination of familiarity and proximity usually made them all too easy to read.

Rosalie was, predictably, full of pettiness. She dealt with the boredom differently than the rest of us; with her talent for seeing when others were lying or hiding secrets, she spent much of the school day monitoring the students around her for signs of intrigue in an effort to know all of the small town's gossip. She often pulled me into her never-ending quest for the secrets that would allow her to feel superior to everyone around her, and I usually complied to keep her off my back.

Emmett beside her was a more comfortable mind to sink into. He was the only one among us still capable of getting poor grades; he knew the material as well as we did but simply didn't care in the slightest. However, his teachers usually cut him a lot of slack because of how optimistic and cheerful he was. Secretly I thought him a little simple, but a moment in his mind was usually restful. Today he was thinking of nothing more than trying to figure out how to get Jasper to agree to a rematch to the wrestling match Emmett had lost before school. He hated to lose, and with his superior strength he felt he should win; however, brute force was no match for Jasper's long practice in vampire wars.

Jasper himself was the hardest mind to stay in, especially right now. Having come to our non-human-drinking way of life fairly late in his undeath, he was the least practiced of us and the most tempted. I, too, could smell the blood of a hundred warm bodies around us, but the reactions - burning thirst in my throat, a tightening of muscles to pounce, the hollowing of my stomach - were familiar to me, and could be ignored. Jasper had a much harder time, and reading his mind was like creating a second thirst in myself.

_Edward._

Long practice kept me from automatically turning my head whenever someone thought my name, but this wasn't a mere thought; Alice was calling me. I looked at her out of the corner of my eye.

_How is Jasper doing?_

I slightly raised my shoulder closest to her in the smallest of shrugs. Alice turned to Jasper immediately, placing a hand on his arm as her mind raced to possible futures, trying to ferret out if Jasper was merely struggling as he usually did or actually becoming dangerous.

Jasper glanced at her. I knew, from reading his mind, that he meant the look to be reassuring. Alice also knew, though her method of knowledge was a little more nebulous. She and Jasper shared a bond so close that it was almost as if they, too, could read minds - only each others'.

I wondered if she'd also picked up on the flash of anger and temptation to rebel I'd read in Jasper's mind in the fleeting second when she'd first touched his arm.

"You won't hurt anyone," Alice whispered, so quietly that even if a human were at our table they wouldn't have been able to hear. The visions in her mind backed this up; in every possible future she could see Jasper returning to my car after school thirsty and tired but stalwart.

Jasper nodded once and looked away. Alice, knowing when to stop, picked up her tray of untouched food, dumped it in the nearest trash can, and left the cafeteria.

_...Cullens._

I hadn't caught the first part of the thought, but our name made me perk up. It was my job to keep an ear out for anyone getting suspicious, any new rumors, anything that might require us to pull out and leave before someone could get too close to our secret. This mind was a familiar one, and I quickly found it among the dizzying babble of voices around me.

_Maybe if I dish on some local gossip she'll open up a little._

Ah yes, Jessica. Her voice was familiar because she had only recently gotten over a crush on me. Her fantasies had been many, varied, and occasionally graphic, and I'd had trouble blocking out a single one of them. There were a couple of points at which I'd nearly broken down and told her exactly what would happen were I to get that close to her...

But I had to pay attention. She was talking to the new girl. _She's faking, I can tell. She looked over at them as soon as she got in the cafeteria. She totally wants to know about them._

I smiled a little. It constantly amused me how intuitive humans thought they were. High school students in particular were often both sure in their talent for reading faces and highly unperceptive. 

There was no point in continuing to listen to Jessica's mind; she was merely going to relay the commonly known rumors about us without so much as an ounce of horror or even a smidgen of deviation from what we'd stealthily spread ourselves. Instead, I searched the room around her, listening for the one voice that would be unfamiliar.

 _She's not even that pretty..._ A truly petty girl named Lauren, her mind as usual full of cattiness. Though, admittedly, I had to agree.

 _I wonder if I should ask her out now, or wait until later..._ I suppressed another smile; this voice was a blond boy named Mike, also known (to me at least) as Jessica's new crush. Looks like she's about to be disappointed again.

 _I think I'm prepared for the quiz, but I'll go over the vocabulary again after dinner..._ Angela's kind mind was always comfortable; she, alone of the others at the table, wasn't obsessing over this new girl.

 _Then what could it be that they're -_ As soon as I focused on this voice, it was cut off as if a door had slammed shut.

I glanced up, feeling off-balance. My eyes met those of the new girl. She looked away quickly, warm red pooling in her cheeks and momentarily distracting me. I quickly shook off the image as her hair fell forward to hide her face; I was just as thirsty as Jasper even if I was more practiced. Instead, I focused on the space the new girl occupied, listening as hard as I could, the minds nearby growing louder in response.

_I'll just have to ask for help with my math homework..._

_Ugh, I should bring my own lunch, like Bella did..._

_I wonder if she likes dances?_

But the space occupied by the dark-haired Isabella was silent.

I heard Jessica speak aloud. "Edward is looking at you," she said with a giggle, while her thoughts took a jealous turn.

"Which one is he?" I recognized her voice; it matched the mind I'd been suddenly shut out of.

"He's the youngest, with the reddish-brown hair."

"Oh." I barely picked up that breath of a word. She peeked through her hair, but looked away quickly when our eyes met. "Stop looking at him," she mumbled to Jessica.

 _At least she doesn't seem to want him... yet. She'll be crushing by the end of the week._ Despite her confidence in this prediction, Jessica obligingly turned away from me and changed the subject, now trying to get back to her original goal - getting juicy details from Isabella about her life in Arizona, most importantly why she'd moved up here to live with her uncle. Jessica was sure it was something drastic since Isabella had transferred here two weeks into the semester. I wanted to roll my eyes at the lack of tact, even as I continued to try to figure out where Isabella's mind had gone.

 _Edward._ The direct and smug thought broke my concentration, and I came back to the table to find Emmett smirking at me. _You like the look of the new girl, do you? Trust you to start crushing on a human._

I glared at him, but was glad he'd the sense to speak to my mind rather than out loud. I didn't want Rosalie or Jasper involved in this at all until I could assure them that the new girl posed no threat. She and Jasper liked to... jump to conclusions when our secrets were concerned.

Emmett grinned. _You've been staring at her for like half of lunch,_ he thought with casual hyperbole. _If you aren't crushing, then what's so interesting about her?_

I rolled my eyes. Emmett smothered a laugh, taking my reaction as an admission of "crushing," but thankfully Rose distracted him for me by preparing to leave. We both quickly followed suit, Emmett because he couldn't stand to leave Rosalie alone in anything, me because I had nothing better to do. Obviously I was getting nowhere trying to find the new girl's mind across a crowded cafeteria. I'd have to wait until fate or planning brought us closer together.

At least this puzzle would help me stave off boredom.

I had biology next, one of my favorite classes because I had a seat in the back near the door with a table to myself. Some instinct - or perhaps my glares - had kept the other students from sitting next to me. Mr. Banner, knowing that I could be in an advanced course anyway, even let me do all partner work alone. We even chatted occasionally. Last week he had suggested I consider going into medicine. I had nodded thoughtfully, not mentioning the two medical degrees I already had.

I sat at my desk, dropping my backpack on the floor, and leaned back to think of the new girl. Isabella. I was sure I had read her mind, for that split second, and yet I hadn't been able to find her mind again. How had that happened? I'd met people before whose thoughts were indistinct, and after long years with me most of my siblings could muffle their thoughts to some degree, but I'd never been so completely shut out before.

The heater kicked on, blowing directly at me. I started holding my breath as soon as I felt the dry heat brush my skin. This was the only downside to my seat, but since it really only mattered at the beginning or end of class when there was a chance a student would pass between me and the heater, I didn't have to worry about it too much.

And what's more, had Isabella realized it was me who read her mind? Probably, I realized with some discomfort. I had been staring at her, after all. Would that cause problems? Would she tell someone? How would I know if she did, since I couldn't read her mind?

It seemed I had some searching to do. Letting Rosalie, and the others, know that I couldn't read Isabella's mind was one thing; telling them I had given her a clear clue to who it was reading her mind and then didn't follow up to see if she told anyone about it... that would not go over well, to put it mildly. I'd be in trouble for weeks, and there's a decent chance at least one of them would suggest we kill her to be sure.

I winced at the thought and began pushing my mind, trying to pick up thoughts or images of the new girl. My effort was instantly rewarded.

_Bella seems as shy as I am._ Angela's thoughts, in the hallway just outside the door. _I'll bet today is hard for her._

The door opened. I glanced back and watched as Angela waved a little at Isabella before heading to her own seat. Isabella herself continued down the aisle toward Mr. Banner's desk, staring at the ground, her face hidden by her hair

Where are you hiding your mind, new girl...

I was somewhat turned toward her, watching her as she passed, probing hard for any hint of her mind. A little too hard. I forgot the classroom around me, forgot the heater blowing at me, forgot that I was holding my breath.

She passed through the heater's path just as I took a breath in. Her scent blew at me like a potent wind. My throat caught fire.

I'd never smelled anyone like her. Human scents, though different from each other, were all similar; Isabella's was another thing entirely. It had spiciness. Depth. I couldn't find the words to explain it.

I could kill everyone in the room in seconds and have time to drink her dry before anyone noticed.

Muscles tense, throat burning, stomach twisting; I had to take a moment to get myself under some semblance of control. As I wrestled with my monstrous desires, as she finished taking the step that had put her between me and the heater, she glanced at me, peeking through her hair. I was just sane enough to be surprised by the look in her eyes. I had expected the shock, and the fear; my face must be a twisted mask as I fought the thirst. But she also seemed... determined.

She knows.

She knows?

The thought distracted me from the monster inside. Isabella continued down the aisle in a hurry now, nearly tripping over the chair at the table in front of me. With quick motions, quicker than I should have used while surrounded by humans, I got out a notebook and slammed it on the table, using the action to waft a gust of clean air past my face.

The memory of her scent still burned in my throat, on the back of my tongue, but now at least I had some semblance of concentration back, and enough presence of mind to go back to holding my breath.

She knows.

I wasn't sure how I could be sure. Her mind, as I narrowly stared at her speaking with Mr. Banner, was as closed to me as ever. Were her eyes so expressive? Or was there a chance that, when startled by my face, she'd dropped whatever block had shut me out in the cafeteria?

"...next to Edward," Mr. Banner was saying, gesturing to the empty seat beside me. I had forgotten. It was the only unassigned seat left in the room.

Isabella didn't turn around, didn't speak.

"It's about time for class to start," Mr. Banner said encouragingly.

"Thanks." Her voice, pitched low, seemed stretched tight - with fear?

How could she not be afraid? She knew what I was. How did she know what I was?

She turned finally to head to her seat, and I quickly turned my head away, bracing myself for the moment when she'd pass through the heater again. Even turned away and not breathing, I could feel my nostrils tingling as her scent washed over me again; my throat burned with the memory of how the air had tasted.

It was only a passing thought for me to kill everyone in the room and devour this girl immediately. It would be much better, much less noticeable, if I waited. I could offer to walk her to her next class and lead her in the wrong direction, toward the library which would hide us from view of the rest of the school... no, no, that wasn't going to work.

I knew where she lived. In a town this small everyone knew where everyone lived, and that went double for the chief of police. He likely wouldn't be home until evening. I could creep into the house at twilight and - no, I wasn't going to kill her!

A part of me wondered where Alice was. I wanted to believe I was stronger than this, that the new girl wasn't really in danger, but it was much more likely she was concentrating too hard on Jasper to realize how very dangerous I had become.

The heater was still blowing. Fighting to keep my composure, my hands curled in fists on my knees, I thought of my father. Carlisle. He was my hero, my inspiration, the one hope I had for doing any good in this world while seemingly doomed to walk it forever as a demon. I knew he wouldn't punish me, wouldn't scold me, would immediately forgive me. But he would be disappointed.

She was just a girl. A girl with incredibly tempting blood, but I didn't have to be a monster. Carlisle often said that if we could focus on their humanity it would be easier to resist their blood. I slowly, carefully inclined my head slightly in her direction.

She was as far from me as she could get, perched on the edge of her chair, her notebook at the edge of our shared desk. She took notes at a furious pace, her chicken-scratch handwriting nearly impossible to read from this angle. She frequently crossed out words or starred or circled something she'd written, usually adding a question mark. She seemed behind.

The heater finally ceased. I waited a moment, then took a cautious breath, as holding it had been getting increasingly uncomfortable. The air around me was still heavily scented but I felt confident in my strength now. She was just a girl. Her blood was just blood, and I'd been resisting for decades. I didn't have to kill her. And with my sympathies aroused by her struggles and the monster in me tightly in check, I decided to try to reach for her mind again.

Still complete silence, but I found that the space was not empty; I could sense where her mind, almost see its shape. It was simply closed to me. A brick – no, steel – wall was between me and her thoughts.

As I concentrated I happened to glance back down at her notebook. Her note taking had slowed considerably, her pen clenched tightly in her hand. A slight flicker of movement indicated she'd probably glanced at me. I looked up, hoping to meet her eye; as I did, she swung her hair around to her other shoulder, her scent washing over me like a crashing wave as she exposed her slim neck. I could see blood pulsing under her skin. I turned away with a jerk, barely prevented myself from pulverizing the table leg with my fervent grip, and resigned myself to waiting out the painful 40 minutes left in class without either breathing or glancing the girl's way again.

She didn't make me wait a second longer. The bell hadn't even finished ringing before she was out of her chair, the door closing behind her before anyone else could get out of their seats.

I was glad of it; I had to get out of here myself. The desire to take a breath was getting stronger and I couldn't trust myself to breathe here, not with her scent still pooled around me. It would be the work of a moment to follow her trail...

I headed out to my car instead.


	2. Bella

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Alice and I were just discussing the new girl."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guys, don't write stories from the point of view of a mind reader. #alltheformatting

I rolled down all the windows of my car and sat back in the driver's seat, taking deep breaths of the cold, wet hair and willing it to wash away the memory of Isabella's scent. After only a few minutes, I was interrupted by the passenger car opening. _Hey Eddie._  
"Hey," I replied a little sarcastically, watching as Alice slid into the seat next to me. "You've been very helpful today."

She shrugged. _I got a handful of split-second visions of you attacking someone, but they all cut off so quickly that I couldn't even tell who you were attacking. You seemed to have it under control._

"Barely."

_Who was it, anyway?_

The memory of her scent came flooding back. I buried my face in my hands. "The new girl. Isabella Swan. She passed through the heater when I wasn't prepared, and she sits right next to me in biology."

_Did she notice?_

Oh, she'd noticed. If my intuition was right, she'd even known what my reaction meant. But I couldn't admit that to Alice, not yet. It had been hard enough to admit that I'd nearly lost control; I wasn't about to tell her I couldn't even read the girl's mind. "I was a little distracted, Alice."

_Then you'd better make sure._

"I know."

 _We'll all hunt tonight,_ Alice thought. Her mind was returning to Jasper now, the one she'd been focused on for most of today. She looked back toward the school.

"Go take care of him," I said, ignoring the pang of the realization that a moment was all she could spare for me. "I'll just... stay out here. I promise."

Alice hesitated, but nodded. She and I both knew that Jasper, aside from being her mate, was far more dangerous than I ever was. She needed to focus on him. 

And, as usual, I'd be left alone.

"Hey." I called Alice back before she could leave, and she leaned through the passenger side window, looking at me expectantly. I looked away. "Don't tell any of the others, all right?"

_I won't._

she skipped away through the light rain, and I leaned back in my seat again with a sigh. 

Alice was right. I knew Isabella had noticed, and even if she hadn't, someone else might have. I needed to make sure I hadn't just given anything away. So I rolled up the windows, locked the car, and headed back to the clustered school buildings. 

I needed the proximity in order to find minds more easily, but I stayed to the outsides of buildings to keep from being seen - and hopefully to avoid catching Isabella's scent. I skulked from classroom to classroom, leaning my head on each wall and scanning the minds of each person to see if any of my classmates from biology were inside.

I made my way around the school with nothing concerning poking out all the way to the school's gym, and there I stayed. Mike had biology with me, was in gym class right now, and he had a clear view of Isabella. I leaned back against the wall, tilting my head to rest against it, and listened.

Isabella was sitting on the sidelines, still in street clothes. I assumed Coach Clapp must have given her the day off since it was her first. Mike was more interested in watching her than the game he was playing, and didn't even seem to notice when his team members called him out for his inattention. 

As I listened, the game ended, and the teams were allowed a break. While the others headed for the drinking fountains, Mike headed for Isabella instead - and he was thinking about me.

"Hey Bella," he said, hoping to himself that he came off as some blend of cool and friendly.

Bella? I realized, belatedly, that everyone else had been calling her that. She must have introduced herself with the nickname.

"Hi," Isabella - Bella - said quietly.

"So, did you stab Edward Cullen with a pencil or something? I've never seen him look so pissed."

Bella's brow furrowed. "Was that the guy I sat next to in biology?"

Now that was interesting. She had to know what Mike was referring to; had to know it even more than Mike himself did. But, given an opportunity to talk about me, she was actually deflecting?

"Yeah. Did you see how he was looking at you?" Mike's mind was uneasy remembering himself. He'd caught onto the malice and danger, even if his mind didn't allow him to fully realize it.

But Bella merely shrugged. "I wasn't really paying attention to him."

A blatant lie, but Mike didn't notice. He was only relieved that I hadn't 'charmed' her somehow, whatever he meant by that. "Nothing there to catch your interest, then?"

Bella looked confused. "I was just trying to take notes. I missed the first part of the unit."

"I can help you study!" Mike said. The eagerness in his mind and spilling into his voice was only slightly marred by the chagrined realization that he hadn't exactly been paying attention in class so far. 

Bella looked down. "Thanks. I'll let you know if I need help."

To me that seemed like a brush off, but Mike's mood soared. He gave Bella a wave as Coach Clapp called the class back to order. I stayed in his mind as he took his place on the floor, and he kept his eyes on Bella. He felt a thrill whenever Bella looked up, sure that she was looking at him, and wished that she'd smile more - or at all - when he smiled at her.

His petty teenager emotions were annoying, but I stayed in his mind. It's for the good of the family, I reminded myself. He'd noticed my behavior and mentioned it to another. This was exactly the situation I was supposed to keep a close eye on. 

Not a single passing thought of me or my family crossed Mike's mind throughout the rest of the class, but my relief was marred by how much the boy thought of Bella. He really seemed obsessed. When Coach Clapp called an end to class, Mike jogged over to Bella instead of heading to the lockers, and started speaking the words he'd been rehearsing. "So, your first day of class, all over, huh? How was it?"

Yes, that was the brilliance he'd conceived after having half a class to think about it. I rolled my eyes.

There was a pause before Bella answered. "Uh, fine." Another pause. "I think... maybe this weather isn't agreeing with me, though. I might be coming down with something."

 _Aw man, I guess I can't ask her out tonight then._ "I could walk you to your car if you're not feeling well."

Bella quickly shook her head. "No, I still have to go to the office to turn in my notes from the teachers." She stood, slinging her backpack onto her back, looking past him rather than at him. "I'll see you later."

"Yeah, see you soon," Mike said, disappointed but still determined. He began daydreaming about their eventual date as he ran toward the locker rooms. I pulled out of his mind in disgust. 

Gym always ended early to allow the students to change, and the office was on the way to my car anyway, so I strolled over there - though I took a different path than Bella did. I was ready and waiting, reading the mind of the secretary Mrs. Cope, when Bella came into the office.

"Did you have a good first day?" Mrs. Cope asked, taking care to smile kindly as Bella handed over her signed papers. _She looks tired._

Bella did look tired, but smiled a little as she answered. "Mostly. But I was wondering if there's another biology class I could switch to? I'm worried having it right after lunch will upset my stomach, with some of the units we'll be doing."

Mrs. Cope checked some things on the computer, then shook her head. "Sorry, dear, that was the only class with an opening that would fit the rest of your schedule. We had a tight fit, making sure you had all the classes you needed to be on track to graduate. You can let Mr. Banner know you're squeamish, though, and he'll let you out of class whenever you feel ill." _Oh dear, she looks ill now._

Bella looked more than ill to me - she looked almost defeated. She nodded her head slowly. "Thank you," she said quietly, then turned to leave.

The bell rang as she left the office, and I headed back out to my car.

Alice reached my car about the same time I did, and looked at me with a raised eyebrow. _Well?_

"Well, what?" The tone in her mind made me feel a little defensive. 

_Well, this._ Alice remembered a vision she'd just had, going over the details in her mind so I could see it too. It was of me, in biology class, with an empty seat beside me.

"My eyes are gold in that vision," I pointed out.

_But I don't just have random visions of humans! It must have something to do with you._

"But I -" I stopped, then began again, speaking slowly as I figured it out. "She made a decision just now. She already told at least one person that she 'might be coming down with something,' so I think she's planning to skip class tomorrow."

Alice stared at me, her brow wrinkled, her dark eyes serious. _So did she notice, then?_

I shook my head, glad Rosalie wasn't here to catch my impending lie. "Not as far as I can tell - we're in no danger from her."

One of the back doors opened. "From who?" Emmett asked. "Who's danger?"

Vampire hearing: the bane of my existence. "No one is danger," I said in a level voice. I watched in the rear view mirror as Emmett, Rosalie, and Jasper all climbed into the backseat. "Alice and I were just discussing the new girl."

_Oh, the one you have a crush on? Have you been spying on her?_

With Rosalie there I couldn't answer that out loud, so I just rolled my eyes at Emmett. He merely grinned.


	3. Snow

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Bite me."

True to my prediction to Alice, Bella was not at school the next day. By lunch a smug Mike had spread the word to anyone who cared: she was too sick to come to school today, and he was the one she'd told about it. I had to be impressed at how smoothly it was done. Bella had dropped just the right information to just the right person to ensure that her absence was unremarkable. And, true to Alice's vision, I sat next to an empty chair in biology.

What did surprise me was that Tuesday wasn't an isolated event; Wednesday and Thursday found the school again Bella-less. The empty chair beside me seemed somewhat accusatory. Could it really be my fault she was gone? Was I to blame for the fact that, out of the first three weeks of the semester, she'd attended only a single day?

I turned the mystery of Bella over and over in my head all Thursday. Apparently it affected me enough for my family to notice. Early Friday morning, too plagued by my own questions and the increasingly loud thoughts along the lines of "Edward's in one of his stupid funks again" from more than one mind in the house, I left the house for some fresh air and some peace and quiet. There were only a few more hours to kill before school. Normally I'd dread going back, but now I was impatient to see if Bella was back. School was the only place I could see her, the only place I could get my questions answered.

Running through the woods with no set destination in mind and no need to hunt was one of my favorite pastimes, and for a while the wind in my hair and the joy of speed distracted me from Bella.

Eventually I needed to head back, and decided to do so in a big sweeping curve that brought me closer to town. When we hunted we always went extra deep in the forest to avoid any chance of running across a human, but since I wasn't hunting I let myself stay a little closer, exploring forest I rarely got to see. And anyway, no one would be out in the middle of the forest in the dark before dawn in the middle of January.

Or so logic dictated. What actually happened is that I came across an unusual but instantly recognizable scent that couldn't be more than an hour old - if that. I had been steeling myself against running into her at school, but out here in the woods Bella's scent caught me completely by surprise.

Instinct took over.

I had trotted a quick mile or two, too focused on the trail and on ignoring the more sane part of my mind to notice anything else, when I suddenly became aware of quick footsteps following behind me. I turned with a snarl but was tackled to the ground before I could do anything else.

"What, Alice?" I growled, glaring at her as she perched on my chest. 

_I think you're the one who needs to answer questions._ Alice's mind replayed the vision that had sent her out here after me: my head whipping up as I'd caught Bella's scent, my eyes narrowing and darkening, my quick jog as I began tracking.

Faced with Alice's glare and the reality of my actions, the monster in me deflated, replaced with shame. Twice now in the same week I'd nearly slipped. "I wasn't going to do anything," I said.

Alice saw through the lie, as I knew she would, but she let it pass. _Let's get back home._ She jumped from my chest back to her feet, but she'd barely touched the ground when she caught the scent herself. Her eyes widened. _That's what you were following?_

"Now imagine it blown directly at you by a heater." It didn't tempt Alice nearly as much as it did me, but I still felt a little justified.

 _You mean this is her scent? Isabella's?_ Alice looked toward town as I got to my feet and brushed dirt and leaves off my clothes. _I've never smelled anything like it._

"Neither have I."

Alice turned back to me with a wry smile and took my hand, tugging me back in the direction of home - for her own benefit as well as mine. Bella's scent had made her thirsty too. _I wonder what she was doing out here._

"Me too."

That little adventure only made me more eager to get to school, so much so that I could barely conceal my impatience as the others got ready. As soon as I got to my first class I started scanning minds to try to find Bella. It took a little work, but I finally caught a glimpse of her in the eyes of another student.

She was here.

A small part of me was worried - I had, after all, tried to track her just that morning - but I felt prepared now. Even when I'd been taken by surprise I'd easily been distracted by Alice. And even that first day Alice's visions had all quickly cut off. Surely I would be able to handle myself. 

Lunch time found me sitting with my siblings, watching the door out of the corner of my eye, waiting for Bella to arrive. She came in with Jessica, looking pale and nervous. The two girls parted; Jessica to the lunch line, Bella to start weaving between the tables. She was headed right for me, I realized with a start, but a quick glance around showed that she was likely heading to where Mike was waving at her, a few tables away. Still, her path through the room necessarily took her directly past our table.

Jasper shuddered as she passed. I immediately scanned his mind, but it was his power, not his thirst, that had been triggered. He'd caught anxiety pouring off her in waves. He glanced at me out of the corner of his eye. _What's with the new girl?_

I shrugged. I had tried to listen as she passed, of course, but her mind was as closed to me as ever.

Emmett chose that moment to make a move. It had started snowing at some point during the school day, enough to leave a small dusting on the pathways, and Emmett had made a small snowball kept cold and hard in his hand all this time. He knew that Alice and I would know what he was doing, and that Rosalie would kill him if he dared throw a snowball at her, which left him with Jasper. It hit him square in the chest.

"That's for not giving me a rematch on Monday," Emmett said, grinning as Jasper brushed snow off his clothes. 

"I knew you'd do that," Alice said.

"Well of course you did, little -" Emmett halted as a small ball of slush splattered into his face. "No fair!"

Alice giggled, patting Jasper's shoulder, leaving a wet mark. "Don't worry, I got him for you."

"You could have prevented it in the first place," Jasper grumbled. The others laughed, and even I cracked a smile.

 _Crisis averted,_ Alice thought to me. She pulled up a previous vision, sans mini snowball fight, which had Jasper getting distract3ed by more tan Bella's anxiety. The smile dropped from my face and I looked away.

 _I'm going to have to tell him about her, if only to make sure he's on his guard,_ Alice thought. _She smells good, even to me._

I hesitated for a moment, but there was nothing I could do but nod. Little as I liked the idea of letting anyone else know of my near mistakes, Alice had a point; it was unfair and unwise to let Jasper go unprepared in the face of an extra-good smelling human. Suddenly I wasn't willing to sit in this room full of humans and pretend to eat for another 20 minutes. I got up, dumped my tray, and headed early to biology.

There was only a minute or two until the bell when the now-familiar scent curled around me. I'd been preparing for this moment since I sat down. I held still as Bella dropped her backpack, sat, and pulled out her notebook, checking my resolve. She smelled good, but I was in control.

"Hi."

I looked up in surprise. Bella was looking down at her hands clasped on her notebook. "I'm Isabella Swan, Bella for short."

"I'm Edward," I said, my voice low and smooth to mask my astonishment. I'd never dreamed she'd talk to me first.

"I apologize for not introducing myself on Wednesday. I wasn't feeling well." Her hands clenched tighter together, their tension completely at odds with her casual tone of voice. Her words were so easy, in fact, that they seemed... somewhat rehearsed. 

Further speculation on my part was cut short by the bell. 

Bella started slightly at the sound, picked up her pen, huddled to the edge of the desk to take notes.

But there wasn't much to write. After a brief recap of the past three days of lecture, Mr. Banner set us free to work on a partner project. Watching out of the corner of my eye, I saw Bella stare in apparent horror from her mostly-empty note page to the equipment on our desk.

I reached for the microscope between us. She flinched away. "I don't know how to do it," she whispered. Her voice was pitched so low I wasn't sure a human would have been able to hear it.

Normally I would have been highly annoyed at being forced to do a partner project with some slow-witted human, but something about Bella made me pause. Without her mind to read, all I had was her downcast face, the tension in her body, and my memory of how much she'd seemed to struggle on Monday in class. "It's not that hard. Here." I reached for her notebook.

She pulled sharply away. I paused, then tried another tack. "May I write some notes for you?"

She hesitated a moment. Then, without looking my way, she dropped the pen on top of the paper and slid it toward me, pulling her hand back quickly.

Keeping my writing speed just below too fast for a human, I quickly sketched the phases of mitosis we were supposed to be looking for, clearly labeling important sections. I finished, slid the notebook her way, and waited.

She pulled it back to herself and read it over, tapping her pen on each section as she read it. She finished in a couple of minutes but didn't look up.

"Would you like me to start?" Where had this gentleness in my voice come from? Good thing Emmett wasn't here or he'd laugh me and my lack of scariness into the next century. 

She nodded, so I slid in the first slide, looking in long enough to seem normal, and named the phase. "Now you check it," I said, sliding the microscope toward her. 

Bella waited until I had pulled my hand back to reach out herself and take it. She looked inside for about as long as I had, then looked back at the notes I'd written her. "Yeah, okay," she said. 

I took the worksheet we needed to fill out and wrote the phase. "How about you do the next one?" I said.

Bella switched the slides with a little fumbling and looked inside. This time she took much longer, looking between the microscope and her notes while chewing on her lower lip. Finally, she hesitantly named a phase.

She slid the microscope my way and I checked it briefly. "Correct." I pushed the microscope back toward her. "How about you identify them, and I'll write them?"

Though still obviously nervous, Bella nodded. She switched the slides with more confidence this time, and named the phase much more quickly. We continued working, gathering speed. Process of elimination certainly helped, but it seemed to me that Bella was also starting to grasp the concepts that had been escaping her. Despite our slow start, we were one of the first groups done.

After Mr. Banner checked off our sheet (and I reassured him we'd worked together, not that I'd done the project by myself), we sat in silence at our table for a while. Bella sat as she had at the beginning class, her hands folded on her notebook while she stared down at the desk. After a few moments she spoke, again so quietly I wasn't sure a human would have heard her. "Did I miss much else while I was ill?"

"Not really." I hadn't imagined that slight pause before 'ill,' had I? "Those notes I gave you have most of the vocabulary words and all the basic concepts. You might want to re-read the chapter, too, if you have time."

"Thanks."

Silence fell again. I half expected Bella to pull away from me - she'd moved more toward the center of the table as we worked - but when she didn't I decided to try some conversation. Gently. On a casual topic. The topic came readily, as I'd heard it in almost every mind in the classroom. "It's too bad about the snow." It had turned to cold rain over the lunch hour.

"Yeah," Bella said quietly.

And then nothing. I spoke again. "Did you get much snow in Arizona?"

"No." Bella's hands clenched a little tighter, and her voice took on the slightly stilted tone it had had at the beginning of class. "This was the first time I had seen snow."

"Coming up here must have been quite the change. What was the weather like in Arizona?"

"Dry. And hot. _Too_ hot. _Suffocating."_ Each word had more and more emotion, with emphasis placed on 'suffocating.' Bella paused and bit her lip, and when she spoke again she sounded like she was reading a script. "I'm enjoying the cooler weather here."

I pressed on. Now that I knew she could break, I wanted to push it into happening again. "How do you like living with Chief Swan?"

"It's nice," Bella said. 

"What's nice about it?"

"Well, it's quiet. And private. And... comfortable."

A miracle happened. A small but genuine smile bloomed on Bella's face and I watched, fascinated, as she continued unprompted. "There were a lot more people where I was living in Arizona. I didn't even get my own room. But here the whole house is just for me and Charlie, and with the the forest right out the back door.... it's so _freeing."_

Then, as if suddenly ashamed of her words, or of how much she'd been talking, Bella bit her lip and looked away.

I had to look away as well, again gripping the table leg as I had on Monday. Her nervous gesture had been accompanied by a blush and a slight swinging of her hair, and the rising color and increase of her scent had reminded me of how good she smelled, something I'd managed to ignore for most of class.

Mr. Banner called the class back to attention not long after our brief conversation ended. It was all right with me; I had my thirst to control and more than enough to think over. It seemed that Bella was calling a truce: we could both pretend that neither of us is abnormal in any way, and in that way leave each other alone.

But I wasn't sure I wanted to leave her alone. She'd read lines for much of our conversation, but that bit at the end where she'd gone off script... that had been genuine Bella. I'd caught a glimpse of the girl behind the closed mind and I wanted more.

Emmett and I shared our last class, and he met me outside the Spanish classroom with raised eyebrows. _Stop smiling. It looks weird on you._

"Bite me," I muttered, letting the smile drop.

 _Seriously though, what happened? This morning I thought you were g0ing to punch someone, but now you're all..._ He struggled to find an appropriate word. _I'd assume you got laid, but -_

I smacked his arm lightly to cut him off. "There. I punched someone."

 _Does that mean I got close?_ He waggled his eyebrows.

I rolled my eyes and headed to my seat, ignoring him in favor of opening my mind and searching for Mike's. I was curious to see how Bella would react after today's class.

The class was playing volleyball. Bella was on Mike's team and not doing well. I watched through Mike's eyes (annoying as his obsession was, at least it meant I always had a good view) as she cringed away from the ball several times, tripped while running to try to hit it after being encouraged by Mike, and completely flubbed two serves in a row before hitting a good one.

It was easy to see why she was having such trouble. Her movements were hesitant and uncoordinated, her body tense, her gestures nervous. Sports were obviously not her forte. And yet... why was it she seemed so well suited for hiking miles from a trail in the middle of the night, but couldn't hit a volleyball?

Alice and Jasper met me and Emmett at the car. Jasper stared sternly at me. "I think you should tell the others."

"Tell us what?" Emmett asked. 

I sighed. "Thanks, Alice."

She shrugged. "I had to warn him."

"Warn him of what?" Emmett asked, growing impatient. 

"Get in the car." That bought me a little time, at least. Rosalie was approaching and I had to think of a way to phrase this that both wouldn't trigger her power and wouldn't make her think to use her power on Bella. I still wasn't willing to admit that I couldn't read Bella's mind.

I reluctantly spoke as I pulled out of the parking lot. "I sit next to Isabella, the new girl, in biology," I said. "Monday there was a bit of an incident. She smells better than a normal human, and I first found that out with the help of a heater blowing right in my face."

Emmett chuckled, but not without sympathy. 

Rosalie was immediately wary. "You didn't do anything to her, did you?"

"Of course not," I said. "But you should all be on your guard if you're ever in close contact with her."

"Like we were today," Jasper said. "I can't believe you didn't tell us earlier."

"Forget telling us she smells good!" Rosalie said. "Edward, did she notice? What did she think? You can't have had a reaction without her noticing!"

"Calm down," I said. Now came the really tricky part. "She noticed, but dismissed it. Someone even asked her about me and she brushed him off." All true, just not quite the full story. 

"Fine." Rosalie didn't find anything suspicious in what I said, but that didn't mean she was happy. "But you're going to keep a close eye on her, and if you slip up again -"

"Rosalie, please, she just caught me by surprise that day. I'm fine."

We drove the rest of the way in silence. I listened hard, skipping from mind to mind, but everyone had accepted my explanation. Bella was safe. 

Well, from everyone but me.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> lol @ Edward being like "that Mike, obsessing over Bella" while using Mike to obsess over Bella


	4. Crash

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _Not her!_

That weekend was a long one. I spent most of it lying on my back in my bedroom, blasting music and thinking about Bella. She'd talked to me. I'd seen her smile. She'd been herself with me, for just a moment. And that moment had given me a glimpse into what might be in her mind.

I thought several times of going out running to see if I could cross Bella's scent again, but each time I decided to Alice was at my door sending me disapproving thoughts. I was sure I'd be able to handle myself this time, and none of her visions had me catching Bella's scent anyway, but Alice was firm: I wasn't going to put myself in that position again.

It was snowing anyway, off and on over the whole weekend. Deep snow dampened the joy of running, and would likely hide Bella's scent.

Monday morning seemed as long as the whole weekend had been. I thought I had been impatient to go to school on Friday, but now that I'd talked to Bella I could barely stand it. I wanted to see her again. I wanted to talk to her again. I wanted to see if she'd show me more of what she hid in her silent mind. 

I tried to keep my eagerness hidden. I'd had to tell my siblings about Bella, about her scent. I'd tipped Rosalie off that Bella was different. And I'd done it while still keeping my own secrets; the fact that I couldn't read Bella's mind, the conversation Bella and I had had, the gut feeling I had that Bella knew exactly what I was. 

If my family found out about all this...

But of course I wasn't entirely successful at keeping my feelings to myself. As we gathered in the living room before school, Jasper raised an eyebrow at me and sent some calming waves my way, and Esme looked at me for a moment before giving me her usual goodbye hug. _You look different, Edward. There's a light in your eyes. You'll have to tell me what that means, and soon._

Sometime I would. I was sure I couldn't keep things a secret forever. But I would for as long as I could. I felt oddly protective of Bella and her secrets. 

When we finally arrived at school, I found I was too eager to see Bella again - even if I couldn't talk to her - to wait until biology or even lunch. I knew Bella drove an old red truck and a quick scan showed me that it wasn't in the parking lot yet. The others headed toward the school, but I stayed out where I'd parked, out farther from school than usual. The parking lot was icy and I wanted to ensure no incautious students hit my car while trying to park.

Alice stayed behind, one eyebrow raised. _And what do you think you're doing?_

I leaned back on the trunk of my car. "Leaning."

Alice rolled her eyes. _We've been through this, all weekend. Quit trying to seek her out!_

"Seek who out?"

_You can't play the pronoun game when you can read my mind. You know who I mean._

"I have no idea."

_And I'm pretty sure you lied for her in the car last week._

"Lie? In front of Rosalie? Not possible."

_You're the best of us at finding loopholes, though Rosalie tends to forget that._

I was distracted from the conversation by the awaited truck rumbling into view. I heard Alice's _I knew it!_ but ignored her as I watched Bella slowly and carefully navigate the parking lot. She pulled into a space in the same row and several spaces down from me, giving me a clear view of her as she gathered her things and exited her truck. She stepped down to the ground carefully, holding to the side of the truck as she made her way around it. Even then, her feet nearly slid out from under her once, leaving her clinging to the truck while she regained her balance. I smiled, connecting this care to her difficulty in gym class yesterday. It wasn't just sports. Bella was clumsy.

Bella paused at the end of the truck. At that moment, Alice gasped. A vision was rising in her mind, of a careless van driver, trying to cut off another to park in the space next to Bella. The tires were going to hit the ice at just the wrong angle, and the van was going to slide as Bella looked up, horror on her face...

That very van was speeding up to get into the parking space now. The vision was about to come true.

_Not her!_

The thought wasn't even formed before I was running full speed across the parking lot. I watched the van hit the ice, breaks squealing. Bella looked up, the same horror on her face that I'd seen a split second earlier. I had just enough time to...

But then... _something_ happened. My running slowed, as if I was trying to run though water. The van turned in its slide and, as I sped up again and reached Bella's side, it crashed into the other corner of her truck. 

There was no time to puzzle out how the van had ended up on a trajectory so far outside what Alice had seen in her vision. Bella seemed untouched but was pale, glassy-eyed, and shaking.

I reached for her as he knees buckled, catching her and lowering us both gently to the ground. Her warmth seeped through her coat as I held her in my lap. She was likely going into shock, and I checked to make sure she was still breathing easily - if rapidly. Her heart was beating faster than I'd ever heard it.

I thought for a moment that my own fear was replaying the image of the van sliding toward Bella over and over, but then I realized with a start that I wasn't seeing the clip from my point of view but from Bella's. her mind wasn't blocked! But all I could hear - well, see - was the repeating image of the van.

I could faintly hear screaming. I also caught blood in the air, and could hear Tyler, the driver of the van, trying to apologize. Others crowded around, their minds and voices shouting shock and concern. But I ignored it all and focused on Bella. "Are you all right?" I asked, keeping my voice calm.

"Y-yes." Still her eyes were glassy, unfocused. Her breathing was shallow and getting more rapid. Still her mind replayed the van. I needed to distract her, to break her out of this, before it went too far. "Bella." She didn't respond this time. "Bella!" She merely closed her eyes.

I hesitated, wary to touch her or move her until I could be sure that she hadn't been hurt, then had an idea. She'd been able to feel me read her mind before. Would that help shake her out of this? I delved into her open mind, trying to read past the surface thoughts of the van. 

After a moment it seemed to be working. Her breathing and heartrate were slowing and color was returning to her face. More than that, I realized she could read my mind in return. Her own face, pale and blank, showed up in her thoughts; she was seeing herself from my point of view. My concern and worry began to be echoed in undertones. And then, with a great, shuddering gasp, she shut her mind and struggled to sit up.

"Be careful," I said, trying to swallow my disappointment at being shut out again. "Are you hurt?"

"No," she said, pulling away from me and leaning back against her truck, taking her warmth away from me. "The van didn't touch me."

"But why didn't it?" The words were out before I could think better of them.

Bella's jaw dropped. "What the hell does that mean?"

"I -"

But I cut myself off as Mr. Banner came close and crouched down near us, his mind full of worry. "Are you two all right? There's an ambulance on the way."

It was time for me to go into crisis-avoidance mode, for the good of my family. I rose swiftly to my feet. "I'm not hurt; I got here just after it happened. Bella didn't get hit but she's probably in shock."

"The van missed me. I'm just - is it bad to be in shock? I'm - I'm not hurt, though." Bella took a deep breath and moved to stand.

Mr. Banner put a hand on her shoulder. "You should be careful until the paramedics get here, just to be sure."

The color Bella had regained vanished entirely at Mr. Banner's words. She stared at him, eyes wide. "I'm fine," she said, but a little more faintly. Her heartrate and breathing were picking up again.

Was she afraid of paramedics, or the hospital perhaps?

I dropped back down to my knees, pulling out my phone to use as a stopwatch. "I'm sure you'll be fine if you can calm down. I could check your vitals; my father works at the hospital and I volunteer there a lot."

Bella's eyebrows knitted together but she nodded. Relieved, I took her hand and rested my fingers at her wrist, counting her pulse, some part of me realizing that I wasn't feeling at all thirsty at the moment. "A little fast, but nothing dangerous. Look at me, please?" She reluctantly met my eyes. "Your pupils are fine." I stood again, then reached a hand down to her. "Do you think you can stand?"

"Of course," Bella said with some fire. She started to get to her feet without my help, but wobbled and caught at my hand to steady herself. She allowed me to help her to her feet from there and, to my eternal surprise and pleasure, didn't let go of my hand as she checked her balance. I suppressed a smile as her hand warmed mine.

Finally the sirens I'd been able to hear for more than a minute made it to the parking lot. Most of the paramedics headed for Tyler, who had not yet been extracted from the van, but one detached himself and headed for me and Bella. I was relieved; it as Brett, a man a knew fairly well. A stroke of luck for both me and Bella.

"Hey, Edward," Brett said. He glanced around to take in Mr. Banner, Bella, and the truck. "Were you involved in the crash?"

I shook my head. "I got here just after it happened. I was worried about Bella, but the van didn't actually touch her, and her vitals are fine." As I rattled off the pertinent medical information, Bella let go of my hand with a start, as if she'd forgotten she'd been holding it. 

Brett nodded and turned to Bella. She shrank away from him, closer to me. "I take it you're Bella?"

"Yes sir." Her voice was barely a whisper.

"How are you feeling?"

"A little tired and shaky," she admitted, "but I'm fine. I'm not dizzy or in pain or anything. I think I just need to go home and lie down."

"That's understandable. Do you have someone who can keep an eye on you?"

"My uncle, Chief Swan." I wondered if Bella name-dropped on purpose, to give authority to her words. "I'll give him a call when I get home."

Her eyes strayed to her truck, dented, with the van still resting against it. I leapt at another chance to keep myself involved. "I'll give you a ride home, since your truck likely isn't going anywhere for a while."

Bella looked up at me, her eyes faintly accusatory, but she nodded.

"Good," Brett said. "And just in case, Edward should stay with you until your uncle gets home."

"Fine. Can we go?"

"Yep." Brett turned back toward the others, who were by now getting a stretcher prepared for Tyler. 

Bella eyed me warily. I smiled, trying my best to look trustworthy, picked up her backpack which had fallen on the ground at some point, and gestured toward my car.

The students parted for us. I hovered my hand close to Bella's back, in case she should slip, and put the rest of my attention into scanning the minds around me. Thankfully, no one was thinking anything out of the ordinary; it seemed no one had noticed me running or anything else unusual.

Alice was waiting back by my car. "You're not hurt, are you?" she said aloud, for Bella's benefit. _Did any of the students see you?_

"No," I said, the answer to both questions. "Everything's fine. I'm taking Bella home, though, and will stay with her until her uncle gets home."

Alice's eyes narrowed. _Are you kidding me? I'm coming with you._

I smiled. "Could you let the office know I'll be out of class today?"

Alice huffed a little. "Sure." _Behave. I'll be watching._

"Thanks, Alice."

 _You win, you smug bastard. I'll expect details._ "See you in a few hours."

I nodded, and Alice turned back to the school. Watching her go, I noticed that my other siblings hadn't made it into any of the buildings yet; they were standing together at one end of the parking lot, looking my direction. I'd forgotten about them, that they might still be in the parking lot. As I opened the door for Bella and set her backpack in the back seat, I steeled myself and reached for their minds. What had they seen? What did they think about what they'd seen?

 _...taking a terrible risk,_ Jasper was thinking, his mind wary and worried. _I know I couldn't do it._ He was only concerned about the possibility that I'd kill Bella.

 _Yep, he's got it bad._ Ah yes, Emmett and his one-track mind. _This should be interesting. I wonder how it would even work..._

I rolled my eyes and focused on Rosalie. Alone of my siblings, she was not thinking of me, and what she was thinking made me feel cold.

_...walking lie. I've never seen someone with such a strong aura of duplicity._

I'd run out of time. Bella had caught Rosalie's full attention.

I got in the car, trying to seem completely at ease despite what I'd read in my siblings' minds. Bella sat huddled in on herself, shoulders hunched, her hands clasped tightly together. She was trembling slightly. Was she cold? I quickly turned on the car and the heater. It would make it harder for me, of course, but I wanted her to be comfortable.

"What did you mean when you asked why the van didn't hit me?"

Her words, spoken before we'd even left the parking lot, startled me out of my worry about Rosalie and Jasper and my own thirst. I'd forgotten my ill-advised comment. I thought quickly. "I just meant that it looked like it was going to. It was a poor choice of words."

She was silent a long while. "So," she finally said, her voice icy, "you didn't mean that you _wanted_ the van to hit me?"

"No!" I winced as my automatic exclamation was followed by an automatic intake of warm air saturated with Bella's scent, but the burn wasn't as bad as I expected. "Why would I want that?"

"It would make things easier for you, wouldn't it?"

I almost laughed. Easier, to be that close to her when her blood spilled? Easier, to see her killed before my eyes? "You don't know me at all."

"True," Bella muttered. "And you don't know me." 

I looked at her now. She was drooping, her eyes half closed. "Then tell me."

Bella jerked back upright, her eyes open now. "Tell you?"

"Tell me about you."

Bella wrapped her arms around her in a tight hug and turned toward her window. "No."

We finished the rest of the car ride in silence. 

She began fumbling with the buckle of her seatbelt as soon as I stopped the car in the driveway, but even using human speed I was at her door, her backpack in hand, by the time she'd gotten unbuckled. 

I held my hand out to her. She sat still. "I want to make sure you don't fall," I said, keeping my voice quiet and gentle.

"Give me my backpack."

"At least let me carry it to the house for you."

She sat, not moving, for a moment longer, then started to get out of the car. As in the parking lot before, she at first ignored my offered hand; again as before, a stumble had her catching at my hand anyway. I pulled her gently my direction to keep her from falling back against the car and she stumbled directly into my arms.

For the space of a breath, she rested there. As if she wanted to be there. As if she belonged. Her scent pooled around me, but I barely noticed the thirst. Her warmth washed through my body and I unconsciously tightened my arms.

She pulled away all too quickly and made her way up to the door, walking carefully. I followed, close enough to catch her if she should slip again - something that some small part of me was hoping for. However, we made it to the porch without incident. Bella turned and took the backpack from me, digging in a side pocket for a keyring with two lonely keys on it. She unlocked the door, then turned back to me.

"Thank you for your help;" she said, her face a carefully composed mask, her voice smooth as she recited her words. "I'll be fine; you can head back to school now."

I knew I could persuasive. I looked deeply into her eyes. "The paramedic said I should stay with you until Chief Swan returned. You might have a delayed reaction." My voice was smooth too, and soft and warm.

Her eyes widened slightly, but she was unrelenting. "I just need to rest, and he'll probably be home soon."

I took a step closer to her. "It's better to be safe than sorry."

"I'm just going to take a nap. I don't need you to watch me sleep." Her voice trembled ever so slightly, and her heart was thudding loudly.

I was winning. I took another step. "If you go into shock -"

"I'm _not_ going into shock." Bella turned quickly from me and opened the door. I was close enough that her hair brushed my chest, sending another wave of scent up into my face. It was harder to ignore this time. I clenched my teeth. 

Bella looked back at me. I smoothed out my face, but it was too late; she'd noticed, and her expression changed. She shook her head and stepped toward me again, almost toe-to-toe with me. "Leave," she said, her voice stronger than I'd ever heard it. "I don't care where you go, but get away from me. Tomorrow, and forever, don't talk to me at school. Don't even look at me." She bit her lip momentarily, her next words coming out softer. "Can't you see you're putting me in danger?"

The door closed in my face.


	5. Danger

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "I won't do it again."

_Can't you see you're putting me in danger?_

I thought of how I'd nearly given in to the thirst the first time I'd sat next to her. Of how I'd caught her scent and automatically started tracking her in the woods that same week. I recalled my own fears a few days ago, when I'd had to speak so carefully to keep Rosalie from turning her attention to Bella, and how that victory had already been snatched from me by Rosalie's notice of her today. I remembered the vision Alice had shown me, of Jasper losing his control in the cafeteria. 

Yes, I was putting her in danger. Time and time again. 

I drove aimlessly for a while, but eventually went back to the school and did the right, responsible thing: I spent the rest of the school hours searching minds to ensure no one had been tipped off. Though quite a few people were thinking about and talking about the accident, most of them were concerned with Tyler - his van was totaled, and some friends who had followed him to the hospital came back with reports of his injuries - and only had a thought or two to spare in Bella's direction. Even then, it was merely relief that she hadn't been hit, not even slightly tinged with suspicion.

Only two people thought of me at all. Jessica, still somewhat attached to her past crush on me, was glad it hadn't been her nearly hit - but then again if that's what it took to get some alone time with me... And Mike, developing his own crush, was furious it was me who had "rescued" Bella when he should have been the one to be there for her. 

Alice was the first to make it back to the car after school ended. She plopped into the front passenger seat - why the smallest of us frequently claimed the best seats was a question best not asked - and checked my eyes. _Just making sure._

I looked away from her. Much of my dismay and shame had worn away in the hours since I dropped Bella off, but I didn't want to risk my face giving anything away.

_Carlisle is going to be home,_ Alice continued. _He treated Tyler at the hospital and wants to make sure everything is okay._

I nodded.

The passenger door opened. "Not today, pixie," Emmett said in a mock growl. Alice stuck her tongue out at him but bounced out of the seat and climbed in the back. 

_So,_ Emmett thought as he settled into the passenger seat, _exactly what happened after you took the girl home?_ He waggled his eyebrows at me, his mind full of possibilities. I merely rolled my eyes. 

Rosalie slid into the car next to Alice. _You know how much I hate it when you hide things from me,_ she thought, a sarcastic tone her to mind. _Why do you bother?_

Ah yes, that was the mature response I expected from her.

Jasper got in warily, worried that Bella's scent would still be permeating the car. _I hope you kept the air on, to make sure her scent would fade. She's going to be a problem if things like this keep happening._

That I did not want to hear. I knew Jasper's opinions about how to take care of "problems."

Alice, who had to sense Jasper's discomfort, engaged him in quiet conversation during the car ride home on any and every inconsequential topic she could think of. Emmett threw a few words in as well, but Rosalie, arms crossed, utterly refused to join in. No one tried to get me to talk, and the car was heavy with a sense of waiting.

Carlisle's car was in the garage, just as Alice had predicted. When we entered, he and Esme were seated and quietly talking at one end of our oval dining room table. The house was filled with normal human things, "props" we jokingly referred to them, most of which were Esme's work. She had brought an incredible talent with her hands into this life and was constantly making things, selling them under false names and front companies. 

We all trailed in and seated ourselves at the table. I sat next to Esme, who immediately turned from Carlisle to embrace me. She had only been worried that I had somehow been hurt - her sincere feelings as a mother sometimes forgot we were nearly-indestructible vampires - and was concerned further because the light she'd seen in my eyes this morning was now completely gone. I looked away from her, staring down at the table. 

Carlisle waited for us all to sit before he began. "I treated Tyler Crowley at the hospital today," he said. "He mentioned that Edward had been involved in the accident somehow. Since none of you called me or Esme I assume nothing serious happened, but I would like to know what transpired all the same." He was not angry, or even disappointed, but he was serious. The family's safety came first for him. He needed to be sure we weren't in any danger.

I opened my mouth to speak, but Rosalie got in before me. "There's something off about Isabella Swan," she said. "And _dear_ Edward has been keeping quiet about it."

"Edward, what does she mean?"

I glared briefly at Rosalie before turning to Carlisle. 

_Can't you see you're putting me in danger?_

I took a deep breath as Bella's words echoed in my head yet again. I had to try. I had to find a way, a way to keep her safe. To convince my family, to satisfy Rosalie, without hurting an innocent girl. I'd have to choose my words very, very carefully.

"Alice had a vision of Tyler's van sliding on the ice a moment before it happened. From her vision it looked like the van was going to hit Isabella Swan, and I - I ran across the parking lot full speed to try to prevent it." Hopefully using Bella's full name would put some distance between us in the eyes of my family.

Esme's mouth opened in surprise, but then she smiled, pleased I'd wanted to save Bella. Carlisle remained serious. "Did anyone see you?"

I shook my head. "I checked minds then and throughout much of the day, and no one was thinking of me at all." Rosalie cleared her throat. "Fine, two people were thinking of me, but not in a concerning way and there's no need to share those thoughts here at the table." Emmett snickered, his mind jumping to conclusions - dirty conclusions. 

"And Isabella?"

"Alice's vision wasn't quite right. The van ended up not hitting her. She's fine." I didn't mention the running-through-water moment - I wasn't sure what to make of it myself, and Jasper, at least, would jump on it as something possibly dangerous about her.

"You know that's not what Carlisle was asking for," Rosalie put in, her tone acidic. "You even took the time to drive the girl home - what was she _thinking?"_

"You drove her home?" Carlisle asked. _Was that wise?_

"Her truck was trapped by the van, and since I was there it made sense for me to offer her a ride. It might have seemed strange, given the circumstances, if I hadn't."

"And?"

This was the final test. I kept my voice as confident as I could. "We're in no danger from her."

The phrase rang true to Rosalie. I swallowed my relief.

Carlisle let out a breath. "You're sure?"

"Completely."

"That can't be it," Rosalie said angrily. "Carlisle, the girl is has the most deceitful aura I've ever seen. There has to be more to her than 'we're in no danger from her.'"

"If she's no danger to us, we have no right to pry into her secrets!"

Rosalie's eyes narrowed. "If you're hiding anything from me -"

"Children." Esme's voice was quiet, but firm. Rosalie subsided immediately, but only to a slow simmer. She was done with me... but only for now.

Carlisle nodded. "Edward's right - if she poses no threat to us, we will leave her alone. Am I clear?" All of us nodded - even Rosalie gave a sullen jerk of her head. "Edward, that was a risk for you to take, but since no one saw you there's no lasting harm." 

"I won't do it again," I said. 

Carlisle chuckled. "Yes, and stay away from icy parking lots." He looked around the table one last time. "I'm heading back to work. See you all later tonight, everyone." _Edward, please accompany me to my car._

I stayed at the table while everyone else wandered away. Carlisle effectively kept me from knowing what he wanted me for by focusing on Esme as he kissed her - though whether it was a purposeful tactic or a side effect from his sincere feelings wasn't clear to even me. 

We left the room together, heading for the garage. _Jasper told me of Isabella Swan's scent,_ he thought. _And that you nearly succumbed to it. Why didn't you tell me, son?_

I stared down at the floor. "I didn't want to disappoint you," I whispered, trying to make sure no one else would hear me. Rosalie, at least, was probably listening from somewhere in the house.

Carlisle smiled a little and placed a hand on my shoulder. _I will never stop loving you, no matter what mistakes you make. And your struggles will seem more difficult if you keep them to yourself._

I stuck my hands in my pockets, unable to look directly at him.

_You know more than you said, don't you?_

I hesitated, but I couldn't stomach outright lying to my father figure. I nodded. "But I can't say," I said, sinking my voice even lower. "Bella - I mean..." Carlisle raised an eyebrow, and I sighed in defeat and went on, using her nickname. "Bella has her own secrets. What I said is what I believe; we have no right to pry into her life." I looked Carlisle in the eye. "Especially as she could have, but is not, prying into ours."

_I see._ Carlisle stared searchingly into my eyes. _I trust you, but tread carefully, Edward._ He squeezed my shoulder and left.

Dread was a lead weight in my stomach as I drove to school the next day, and I was even able to ignore Rosalie's snippy attitude in favor of my own lowness. Bella had demanded I not talk to her, not even look at her, and I was finding the thought of complying with her demands... rather painful. This couldn't be all, could it? The wonderful puzzle that was her and her mind, swept away from me in one unlucky moment? Would I really never get the chance to talk to her again?

It seemed so. Bella came in just before the bell and sat as far from me as she could in biology, her chair practically pulled into the aisle, her notebook at the very edge of the desk. She didn't so much as glance my way, though the tension in her shoulders clearly spoke of how aware of me she was. 

But I couldn't help it. As class began, I watched her out of the corner of my eye. I felt an odd squeezing in my chest as I watched her struggle. Today was a review day, but she'd missed most of the classes in the unit, and had seemed to be behind even when she was there. Her notes were sparse, disjointed, incomplete. The test was tomorrow.

My notebook sat in front of me, completely blank - of course, I had no need to take notes. I'd learned this material enough times to teach it myself.

I came up with a plan.

I picked up my pen and began to write. But I wasn't writing notes; instead, I wrote my own lecture. I expounded on the concept Mr. Banner was currently reviewing. I drew diagrams. I made comparisons. I kept my writing simple and direct, and as I wrote, I slowly and carefully shifted my weight to slide ever so slightly closer to Bella. 

She stiffened suddenly. Ah, she'd noticed. I held still waiting, again watching out of the corner of my eye. She glanced my way.

Her breathing hitched, her lips parted, and she positively stared at my notebook. I used one finger to nudge it ever so slightly in her direction. She turned more toward me, looking over my notebook for several more seconds, then suddenly began writing at a furious pace. She copied my diagrams and rewrote what I'd written in her own words. Any time she paused, I'd read over her shoulder to see where she'd stopped, then write again until she could understand and keep going.

In this way the whole period passed. Mr. Banner finished just before the bell rang, and Bella sat back in her chair, the slightest of smiles on her face as she looked over her notes. Perhaps...

"Bell-"

I didn't even finish her name before she looked up, glaring daggers at me. She swept up her notebook and backpack and ran from the room without a glance back. 

I've put her in enough danger already.


	6. Dance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "You should see your face."

I had thought high school was terrible before. Now a part of me longed for that kind of tedium, for instead I found myself living out some kind of horrible daily emotional roller coaster.

Get to school tense. Ignore teachers and classes to seek out the minds of those near Bella. Watch her participate in her classes, chat quietly with classmates luckier than I, perhaps even catch a glimpse of her myself. Spend lunch in such a state of heightened anticipation that I usually left a full ten minutes early for class. Wait for her arrival. Inhale her scent, which I got more used to yet still burned, as she sits behind me and gets out her notebook without even glancing my way. Feel my heart sink as the disappointment sets in. Write notes for her anyway. Hit rock bottom as she gathers her things and leaves without a word. Drag myself through my last class, often masochistically hanging out in Mike's mind as he watched and pined over Bella. Head home, increasingly morose. Spend the night listening to music or hunting. Somehow manage to work myself back into something approaching hope as the sun rose on a new day.

Repeat.

Emmett rolled his eyes at my "emo." Esme's thoughts took a sad turn whenever she looked at me. Jasper stopped trying to use his powers to lift my mood. Carlisle was clearly waiting for me to confide in him, but I couldn't bring myself to do so. Even Alice, my original confidant, lost interest over time when she had no more vision involving Bella and merely wished I'd be her brother again.

Rosalie was the worst. After days of successfully eluding her, she managed to corner me about a week after Bella told me never to speak to her again. Rosalie had been watching Bella and insisted that almost every action and word out of her mouth was tinted with deception and deceit, and she demanded that I tell her why this was. I refused. Rosalie termed this a betrayal and her thoughts and words to me became increasingly acidic.

I tried to get over Bella. Really, I did. Every day, as I sat in biology with as unresponsive as stone beside me, I decided to not help her with her notes today. And yet, every day, as soon as she hesitated or began to get tense I'd find myself picking up my pen. I guess I was trying to prove something. To myself, or to her, I wasn't sure.

"And just how long are you going to continue pining after that girl?" It was toward the end of February. I had just sneaked a glance at Bella across the cafeteria, but hadn't been sneaky enough. Rosalie, always ready to jump on me these days, had noticed. "You know, if she's bothering you this much, we could just get rid of her."

I choked down my snarl at the veiled threat. Emmett laughed and slung his arm around Rosalie. "None of us is going to lay a hand on her, Rose. We can't kill Eddie's first crush! Even if he is all emo about it."

Rosalie sniffed, delicately rearranging her food on her tray. "I think it would be better if _Eddie_ went back to his usual existential moping. This having an actual object to fixate on is really obnoxious."

I began calming down despite myself. Jasper wasn't taking sides in this fight, but he knew how dangerous it could be for us to start arguing in public.

Rosalie, also visibly relaxing, shot Jasper a look. He shrugged. "Not the time or place."

"Fine." Rosalie got up and stalked out of the cafeteria.

I quickly followed suit. Rosalie was the most angry of my siblings, but the others liked to take turns chiding, teasing, and complaining. I wasn't about to give them another opening, not when Rosalie had already started on the topic.

I sat in biology, waiting for Bella's arrival. Her scent, which I was by now intimately familiar with yet still burned, pooled around me. She sat and got out her notebook, carefully not looking my way. The bell rang.

Mr. Banner began class by handing out the test we'd taken the day before, his mind full of his plans for the next unit, some of which he still had to prepare for class today. He intended to give the class a few minutes to chat while he finished. Fantastic. Mike always took the opportunity to sit at the table in front of Bella and talk to her when we had class breaks. I hated it when he did. It wasn't fair that that shallow, hormonal boy was allowed to talk to her when I wasn't!

Mr. Banner reached our table, dropping the last two tests facedown in front of me and Bella before turning to go back to the front of the classroom. I put mine away immediately. I didn't have to look to know I got a perfect score.

Bella gasped beside me, the soft noise almost lost in the chatter that was blooming in the classroom.

I turned toward her before I could remember to think better of it, and found her staring, shocked, mouthing hanging slightly open, cheeks pink, at a test with a big red "A-" circled at the top.

_What's he looking at, anyway?_

I looked away from Bella as casually as I could as Mike came up to the table. His angry, jealous thought made me angry in return. Of the two of us, I had far more cause to be jealous. It wasn't him who Bella positively refused to talk to.

I watched out of the corner of my eye as Mike sat himself familiarly on Bella's side of the table. "What'd you get?" he asked, turning his mind away from me back to Bella, _always_ Bella.

Bella laid her test flat facing him, her blush intensifying as she smiled wider. I took some satisfaction in seeing Mike's shoulders slump - he'd gotten a C+. "I guess all that extra studying paid off, huh?" he asked. I gathered from his mind that Bella had been turning down invitations from him by saying she needed to study hard to catch up.

"Yeah," Bella said. Was it my imagination, or had Bella's eyes flicked to me for just a heart stopping second?

Mike sat quietly a for a bit, gearing himself up for something. My eyes widened as I read in his mind what he was intending. "Bella?"

"Yes?" Bella looked up into his eyes. Eye contact was not something she normally did. My hands curled into fists.

Mike's words came out in a rush. "I was wondering, uh, who are you planning to ask to the spring dance?"

Bella was silent a moment, her blush fading from her cheeks. It seemed she knew as well as I did that he was asking for... personal reasons. When she spoke her voice was gentle. "Mike, I _really_ don't do dances."

"I know, but..." Mike's thoughts briefly recalled a similar conversation, that time about the Valentine's Day dance. "I thought..."

"And," Bella added more softly, "I know that Jessica asked you to that dance this morning."

Mike's face fell. Apparently the obnoxious boy had given Jessica a maybe, in hopes that his one true crush would finally ask him out. "But... I wanted to get to know you better. You're always so _busy."_

"How about this," Bella said in a measured tone I recognized as coming from her script. "Next time you have something planned, I'll make sure I can come."

Mike made up an outing on the spot. "I think some of us had plans to go to Port Angeles this Sunday."

Bella nodded slowly, her eyes to the side as if she were thinking about something else. "That works. Can you pick me up?"

"Of course! I think we were planning to leave, uh, around two?"

"I'll be ready."

"Great!" I watched with narrowed eyes as Mike made his way back to his table, a spring in his stupid step.

"You should see your face."

Bella's voice was quiet, and somewhat hesitant, as if she wasn't used to teasing. I instantly forgot Mike and looked at her instead. She was looking down at her paper, her finger tracing the A-. "Thank you for your help," she said in a near whisper.

"Oh, you're talking to me now?" I said lightly, striving to keep my voice casual.

She winced, her cheeks pinking again. "I guess I deserve that. Look, Edward -" I was disgusted with myself for feeling a tiny thrill when she said my name - "I'm - I'm sorry."

I let out a breath as Bella continued talking, her voice sinking lower as Mr. Banner began to call the class to order. "I know I've been very rude to you these past few weeks. I just - I panicked that day. I was so afraid of..." she shook her head. "Never mind. But thank you. I'm sure I wouldn't even be passing this class if not for your help."

And then she picked up her pen and hunched over her notebook.

I sat stunned as Mr. Banner began his lecture. Half of me was still angry - I'd waited patiently and helped her for _weeks_ to get a vague 'thank you and I'm sorry'? - but the other half, the half that had kept me hopeful this whole time, was elated. She'd _talked_ to me. She'd even tried to tease me!

And maybe, my hopeful side pointed out, I should give her the benefit of the doubt. She obviously felt bad about how she'd been treating me. She'd mentioned being afraid. Of me, perhaps; after all, I'd wanted to kill her the first day we'd met, and she seemed to have been all to aware of the fact.

I was distracted from my thoughts by the sudden lack of activity beside me, a sure sign Bella was confused. I reached for my pen but, before I could figure out where Mr. Banner was and start writing, Bella turned her notebook toward me. She'd written a question at the bottom of her notes.

Well. That made it easy. Instead of guessing what was tripping her up and how, I merely answered her question in my own notebook, writing a few quick sentences to explain the concept that she was having trouble understanding. Bella read it over, copied most of it into her own notebook, then put a checkmark by her question and kept going with her notes.

I couldn't suppress my rising spirits throughout the rest of the class. She needed my help a few times more, and each time time wrote a question instead of waiting for me to figure out what she needed.

Mr. Banner wrapped up the lecture with a few moments to spare before the bell rang. I sat, tense, waiting, wondering, as Bella packed away her notebook. Normally she would get up and leave class without even waiting for the bell. But today when she finished she sat still, staring down at the table.

"Thanks again."

"You're welcome."

"I'll - I'll see you tomorrow?" The commonplace phrase came out like a question.

I couldn't help smiling. "See you tomorrow, Bella."

Bella glanced my way, blushed hard, and ran for the door as the bell ring.


	7. Blood

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "I've been trying to be your friend for weeks."

I couldn't have told anyone what happened in my last class, what any of my siblings had been thinking on the car ride home, or what music I listened to that night. My thoughts were full of Bella. She'd talked to me. She'd apologized. She'd thanked me for my help. She'd turned my attempts at lecture-within-a-lecture into a simple tutoring exercise. And she'd _talked to me._

I was more excited about it than I should have been, given the way she'd been ignoring me for weeks, but the urge to forgive her was strong. Even without knowing what she'd specifically been afraid of, I could appreciate that fear might cause her to pull away from me. And I of course could understand pushing people away in order to keep secrets, and I knew Bella had to have at least a few.

My distraction lasted up until I met my siblings at the car the next morning for class, but then I was shaken out of it by realizing something was off. "Where's Jasper?"

Rosalie snorted and thought something derogatory I didn't pay attention to. Alice raised an eyebrow. "Blood typing day, remember?"

That's right. Alice and I had brought home the release forms a week ago. We'd both been excused by Carlisle, of course. Rosalie, Emmett, and Jasper, being upperclassmen, didn't have the class; but Jasper was too worried he'd lose control even without being in the class and opted to stay home.

As for me, I was supposed to go do homework in the library. But the library wasn't where Bella was going to be, and I'd been thinking all night of where she was going to be - in her chair in biology, which was next to mine. And now mine would be empty, completely unlike how I'd imagined today's biology hour going. What if whatever delicate thing we'd started yesterday was crushed by my absence? Or worse, by that Mike creature?

I was on pins and needles the whole day, unable to pay attention in classes, barely remembering to breathe. I could only look forward to lunch, where I would... what, exactly? I had no clue. I just had a vague hope that somehow, when I saw her in the crowded cafeteria, I'd be able to do... something.

In the cafeteria I slumped in my chair, not even bothering to pick at my food, waiting for Bella's arrival. She came in with Jessica, as usual, and I sought out the other girl's mind, hoping for something I could use to talk to Bella. To my surprise and dismay, I found out that Bella wasn't even planning on staying in the room - she was making her excuses to Jessica. She wasn't feeling well; she'd probably go visit the nurse, maybe even just go home.

Jessica left her to get in line. I was already out of her mind, trying to think of how I could casually run into Bella at the nurse's office without looking too much like a stalker. But Bella didn't leave immediately. Instead, she watched Jessica go, then scanned the room.

Our eyes met. She smiled a little. I couldn't help a smile tugging at the corners of my mouth in response. She looked away from me, glancing toward the windows lining one wall that showed the gray outside. She met my eyes again, nodded just slightly toward the windows, then turned abruptly and left the room.

I was torn for approximately six seconds - what if I'd imagined it? Wouldn't she have opened her mind to me if she really wanted me to follow her? - but the desire to see her again, and the worry of what she'd think if she did want me to follow her and I didn't, won out. I stood. "I'm heading toward the library now," I said. The sentence shouldn't catch Rosalie's attention; the direction Bella had indicated was toward the library, and was where I was supposed to spend my next class period anyway. My siblings merely nodded, and I dumped my tray and left.

I caught Bella's scent quickly, and followed it not to the library or indeed any of the school buildings, but instead to the forest which grew close to the school on this side. I'd only gone a few yards into the trees when I came upon Bella herself, sitting on a fallen tree with a packed lunch in her lap.

She looked up as I approached, but looked down again almost immediately. "Hi," she said, her voice a mere whisper.

"Hello."

We were quiet for a moment. I looked at her. She looked at the sandwich she held in her hand. Finally I had to break the silence, to soothe my own apprehension. "I wasn't imagining things, was I? You asked me to follow you out here?"

She nodded. "I thought - we could talk, maybe. Away from class. And everyone else. And I knew you weren't eating anyway..." she trailed off, glancing nervously up at me.

I kept my face impassive. "You know, don't you. What I am."

Another nod.

"You've known since the first day."

"Yeah." She bit her lip a moment, then added, "But you can trust me."

I didn't need Rosalie here to know she was telling the truth. Bella had had plenty of time to spill our secret if she wanted, and instead she'd kept incredibly silent and was now inviting me out for private talks in the woods. "I know."

She gestured to her side. "You can sit. If you want."

There was plenty of room on the log beside her. I sat a couple of feet from her, turned sideways so I could see her better. Without her mind, her expressions and body language were all I had to help me interpret the words she spoke. Thankfully today her hair was pulled back in a ponytail, giving me a clear view of her face.

She'd taken a bit of her sandwich while I was arranging myself, and was now chewing thoughtfully, her eyes on the ground. She swallowed, glanced at me, bit her lip, and put her sandwich aside. I waited. She'd invited me out here; she'd speak first.

"I... I wanted to apologize." She hunched her shoulders a little. "Again. What I said that day was... I don't like remembering what I said. And then I let you help me for weeks without even thanking you. I'm sorry."

"Apology accepted," I said. And waited, sensing she wasn't done yet.

She heaved a great, shuddering sigh. "I'm sure you know what I mean, if I say something about trying to blend in despite secrets."

I nodded. "You can trust me, you know."

She glanced at me. "I want to."

"You can."

"But I can't." She wrapped her arms around herself, compacting herself into a tight bundle of tension. "I've gotten into so much trouble, and I don't want to get sent away again." She chewed at her lip, freeing one hand to swipe away a tear. "You have to understand. I've always been a failure."

I resisted the urge to pull her in my arms and comfort her, a strangely human impulse that I wasn't used to. "I understand," I said in a low voice. "You need me to not try to push you on your secrets."

"Yeah." She exhaled loudly, shyly looking my way. "And - and in return... I think we can try being friends. If you want."

I couldn't help smiling. If I want? "I've been trying to be your friend for weeks."

"I know. I just... I thought you'd give up. Or that you were just being nice."

"Friends are nice to each other."

"I know! I mean..." she sighed again. "I'm not very good at the friends thing."

I laughed. It felt almost strange to me - I usually laughed very little - but it seemed like the right thing to do. Bella relaxed somewhat and smiled, just a bit. "I'm not very good at the 'friends thing' either," I said. "We can try this together."

"Sounds good." Bella hesitantly, awkwardly, offered me her hand. "Friends?"

Hot emotion swelled in my chest. I took her hand, and we gently shook hands. "Friends."

"Okay, cool." Bella gave a nervous little laugh and let go of my hand. pulling her warmth away from me long before I wanted her to. She glanced at me, then away, biting her lip. She seemed to do it whenever she was nervous about saying something. "I have a question."

"Okay."

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to."

"What is it?" I said, smiling encouragingly.

"Um..." She fidgeted with the hem of her sweater, then blurted out, "What does your family eat? Is it..."

"No," I said quickly. Even without reading her mind, it was far too easy to tell what she'd been about to say. "We hunt animals. That doesn't mean we're not tempted," I added, as her brows furrowed. "But we don't take human life."

She still seemed a little unsure. "Where do you hunt?"

"Deep in the forest. High in the mountains. As far from civilization as we can get."

She caught a strand from her ponytail and twisted it around her finger. "So... if one of you was within a few miles of town... you wouldn't be hunting?"

"No, if we're close to town we're not..." I trailed off as I suddenly remembered the last time I'd been out in the woods within a few miles of town. "This isn't a hypothetical, is it."

She looked confused. "Hypo-thet-ical?"

Of course, I'd found while helping her that she often struggled with bigger words. I tried another tack. "You're asking me this because of something specific, correct? My guess is that same week you first came here - very early Friday morning, I think it was?"

She pressed her lips together and nodded tightly.

"Yes, I was in the woods close to your house that day. But I wasn't hunting."

"You started tracking me." She was shrinking into herself again.

"Your scent surprised me," I said cautiously. I'd hoped we could get on a little firmer ground, friendship-wise, before I had to get into this. "The thing is... you smell... different from most humans." Her eyes went wide. "But I've gotten a lot more used to you now. It won't happen again."

"So... you weren't out there looking for me?"

"Not at all."

She relaxed again, letting out a breath. "Okay. That's what I hoped, since you didn't come after me later. But I had to be sure."

"Of course." Thank heavens for Alice and her intervention that night. I'd have to give her a present to say thanks. Like a new car.

We sat in silence a moment. Bella picked up her neglected sandwich and looked at it with a contemplative air. "I guess I'd better finish this or put it away."

"Yes, I think the warning bell will ring in a few minutes," I said, pushing down my disappointment. Only a few more minutes until she went to class without me.

But Bella looked up at me with an almost sly smile. "I'm not going to class today."

"Why not?"

"Well..." she bit her lip. "I don't like the smell of blood."

"And?" I said, sensing that wasn't the full story.

"And... I'm not sure what results I'd get."

I stared at Bella a moment as she packed up her food, putting two and two together and debating whether it would be pushing her boundary to state what was now obvious. "Bella... you aren't human, are you."

"Would I be friends with a vampire if I were?" Her tone was teasing, but her laugh was nervous. She swung her backpack onto her back and stood, heading out of the trees. I followed.

"So," I said, seeking a change of subject that I was sure she'd appreciate, "if you aren't going to class, what are you doing?"

"Going to the office to get excused for the day. I'm going to pretend I'm sick. I hate gym so I thought I'd just get out of both classes."

I smirked at her. "I was excused to go sit in the library a week ago."

"Well, aren't you so prepared with your many years of experience."

I shrugged. "If it were up to me, I'd just cut. But Esme gets upset when I do that."

"Esme?"

"My mother."

"Right." Bella sighed. "I can't risk cutting. I'd get in so much trouble if I was caught."

"Chief Swan cares that much about your schooling?" I asked. But I was sure that wasn't it.

Bella stole a glance at me. "No, it's others."

"The ones who sent you here?"

"Yeah." She shifted her backpack a little, her voice tense. I thought I'd pushed too far but in a moment she went on. "I was flunking sophomore year at my last school. I guess this school was willing to overlook that, somehow, if I could do well this semester." She shook her head. "You've seen how well that's going."

"I saw you got an A- on your last test,"

She smiled a little. "Yeah, there's exactly one class I'm doing well in."

I smiled too, a plan beginning to form. "Would you like help with your other classes?"

"Do you wanna cut class and help me with my other classes right now?"

I grinned at her. She blushed and started walking a little faster toward the office.


	8. Blush

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "If I tell you something, will you promise not to ask questions?"

The blush still bright on Bella's cheeks, she put on a miserable expression and headed into the office. I followed her without thinking, which ended up working well; Bella said she was too ill to drive and that I'd volunteered to take her home, excusing us both at once.

We headed out to my car in silence. I was still trying to figure out the best way to talk to this girl. She, for her part, almost seemed to have forgotten I was there: she was walking quickly, her face set, her hands clenching and unclenching at her sides.

"You seem anxious," I said lightly after we'd both climbed into the car.

Bella hesitated, biting her lip as she twisted her hands together. "This is - weird," she said finally. "I'm still afraid something terrible is going to happen."

"I won't do anything you don't want me to," I said.

"Oh, it's not you I'm - never mind." She cleared her throat. "What do we have, an hour and a half? What can we get done in that time?"

I accepted the change in topic. "What exactly is it that you need to do?"

We spent the rest of the ride and the walk up to her front door discussing her overdue homework. Her math assignments and a half-finished English paper were determined to be the most important items, so we'd work on those. "Maybe... if I need more help, we can do this again?" Bella asked shyly, turning her key in the lock.

"Of course," I said. She pushed open the door - the door I'd last seen as it was closed in my face - and we entered the house together.

Bella headed straight through the front room with its big screen TV and threadbare sofa and into the kitchen. She dumped her backpack on the kitchen table and turned to me, her eyes on the floor. "Can you wait here? I'll be right back. I need to - change." She darted away from me and up the stairs.

Okay then. I sat at the table intending to pull out my own homework, but found myself listening for Bella instead. She climbed the stairs rapidly, then turned down a hallway, then closed a door. There was some shuffling, some soft thumps, then a solid thud. Then silence.

I was just wondering if I should be concerned when her footsteps started up again. A couple of minutes later she appeared at the bottom of the stairs, still wearing her thin sweater from school, but barefoot now, with loose linin pants. She sat down next to me without looking my way and pulled out her homework.

Despite brimming with curiosity about the thuds I'd heard, I held my tongue and and buckled down to the serious work of getting Bella through her math worksheets. The trick, as with biology, was to find a way to explain it that made sense to her; once she grasped the idea she was easily able to complete the rest of the problems herself. Being able to talk to each other directly instead of instead of write to each other sped up the process considerably. We finished two assignments within the hour and switched to English.

This was significantly harder. Her paper, written in chicken-scratch drafts in a notebook, was not easy to read. And while she seemed to have a decent understanding of what her paper was supposed to be about, she kept making grammatical and style errors that seemed incredibly simple - she could speak better than this, so why was her writing so poor?

Finally, after working through the errors on the first couple of pages, I decided to ask what I'd been wondering the whole time. She didn't have an accent, but... "Is English your first language?"

Bella turned away from me with a jerk. "Y-yeah."

"I ask because -"

"I know," Bella said harshly, cutting me off. She pushed her chair away from the table and stood in one quick movement. "I need to go outside, get some air."

"All right." I stood and followed her.

It was even grayer and colder than it had been earlier in the day, but Bella seemed to not care. She marched straight into the woods that edged her backyard, careless of the change of ground under her bare feet, and plopped down onto a large rock, folding her arms tightly against her chest. There was just enough room on the rock for me to sit beside her, so I did, carefully not touching her - but still close enough to feel her warmth.

"Sorry," Bella said after a few moments of silence. "I - I just..." She heaved a sigh. "Bad things usually happen when people start asking that kind of question."

"I'm sorry," I said. "I didn't mean to upset you."

She glanced at me, a quick, nervous movement. "I know." She bit her lip for a moment. "If I tell you something, will you promise not to ask questions?"

"Of course."

"I only learned to read and write about five years ago."

I kept my face and voice smooth. "That would explain your difficulties."

"Yeah."

I had promised not to ask questions, but questions were all I had. Why had she only learned five years ago? If she had been able to read and write for only such a short time, how was she able to be in high school? Who had so royally messed up her childhood that she hadn't been taught?

A cold breeze that tasted of rain brushed past our rock. Bella shivered a little.

"Aren't you cold?" I asked.

"Not really."

I opened my mouth to point out the obvious lie, but Bella got in ahead of me. "Don't you need to go pick up your siblings soon?"

I sighed. Hang my siblings. "Yes, I suppose so."

"Then we should go back inside." Bella pushed herself off the rock and headed back into the house. I obediently followed her, felling a distinct sense of whiplash. Bella was open one moment, closed the next, had sudden changes of mood, and I had none of her thoughts to help prepare me for any of it. I wasn't used to this.

While I picked up my backpack, Bella stood by the kitchen table, fiddling with the hem of her sweater and biting her lip. Recognizing that she wanted to say something, I paused, my backpack slung over one shoulder. "Yes?"

She flushed a little. "I just had a question."

"Okay," I said patiently.

"Is there something I could do to... learn more? To write better?"

"Practice, of course." Bella made a face, and I found myself chuckling. "Although actually, a great way to improve your writing is to read more."

"Really?"

I nodded.

She was biting her lip again. It was starting to look swollen; she'd frequently chewed on it while we were working on her homework. "Stop that," I said, reaching up without thinking and tapping her lip. "You're going to hurt yourself."

Of course by now I knew Bella was a blusher, but this was something else. I'd never seen someone turn such a crimson hue so fast. Her blush extended from her hairline to the tips of her ears all the way down to the swooped neckline of her sweater. Her scent intensified, but I barely noticed; I was too busy cursing the block that kept me from her mind. What I wouldn't give to know what thoughts accompanied such a sudden and violent reaction!

We stared at each other for a long, long moment. Then Bella cleared her throat suddenly, putting her hands on her cheeks - as if that would hide her blush - and slightly turned away from me. "Did - did you -" her teeth touched her lip, but she quickly pulled them away again - "do you really want to keep helping me with my homework?"

"Yeah." It was all the response I could manage. Her hesitant way of speaking mirrored my own scattered thoughts.

I watched in fascination as she moved her hands nervously to her neck. Her skin must be so very warm right now. It would burn so deliciously to touch her again, perhaps for longer this time...

"Um." One of her hands slid down her neck, her fingers tangling in the neckline of her sweater. "Could you help me, then? Help me read. I get so... frustrated when I try by myself."

"I'd be happy to." Understatement. In that moment, I felt I'd do a lot of desperate things to ensure I got to be close to her.

"After school, then? We can start as soon as you want. As many days as you can. Charlie doesn't get home until evening." Her blush was fading around the edges, but her cheeks were still bright.

"I can be here every day, if you need me." A sudden thought made me pause. "Oh, but not until Monday. I'll be... out of town."

Her face fell, but then a thought seemed to strike her. "Is it going to be sunny this weekend?"

I smiled at her quickness. "Yes, starting tomorrow morning."

"Where are you going?"

"Goat Rocks Wilderness." I didn't add that the location was for Emmett, who was excited for bear season. I didn't need to give her that image.

"Oh."

We stood a while, her staring at the floor with pink cheeks, me staring at her, feeling some kind of... hunger, wanting, that I hadn't known before. My fingers twitched. I curled my hand into a fist. "I should go," I said, hoping my voice didn't sound as reluctant as I felt.

"Yeah." Bella licked her lips, her hands twisting together on her chest. "Thank - thank you again."

"You're welcome." I forced myself to turn around and leave.


	9. Visions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Don't know how it ends yet, huh?"

I was a little unsteady on my way back to the car. What had happened in there? I settled in the driver's seat and took a deep breath to try to calm myself, but that only made me acutely aware of how much her scent had permeated the car in the short time she'd been here. Venom pooled in my mouth, but also something tugged at my cold, dead heart...

I quickly rolled down the windows and turned the air on full blast, hoping that that would be enough to air out the car in the - I checked the dashboard clock and cursed under my breath - twenty minutes before school ended and my siblings were in here.

I found, however, that I didn't mind breathing in her scent myself as I drove. Proximity to her seemed to be emphasizing her pleasant but not tempting spiciness; the sweetness that had nearly driven me to the unthinkable faded much faster into a faint undertone. Perhaps, if the others got to know her as well...

I shook my head sharply. Bella was barely comfortable allowing me to be close to her. It was too much to even hope that there might be a time when she'd be comfortable getting to know the rest of my family. 

I sighed as I pulled into the parking spot I'd vacated a couple of hours earlier. The future was too tangled, and in a way that I was sure even Alice couldn't help. I'd concentrate on the present. Well, the very recent past. The moment I'd touched Bella's lip... her brilliant blush...

Emmett pulled open the passenger door, startling me from my reminiscing. He chuckled. _Imagine, catching you by surprise for once. Are you losing your touch?_

"Hardly," I muttered, bracing myself for the moment of truth. Bella's scent was still lingering in my nose, on my tongue. Would Emmett notice?

_Why'd you skip Spanish? Did someone come staggering into the library with a bleeding finger, and you needed time to bury the body in the woods?_

"You're hilarious." I rolled my eyes.

The back door opened, and Emmett looked over his shoulder. "Hey babe."

Rosalie froze, half bent to get into the car. "That _girl_ has been in here."

"What?" Emmet glanced at me, puzzled. Then his face smoothed out and he grinned. "Oh, so it was her you had to bury in the woods?"

"Emmett!" I said, annoyed.

Rosalie still hadn't moved, and was glaring daggers at me. "What was she doing in here?"

"I saw her outside during lunch," I replied curtly. "She said she wasn't feeling well, and I offered to give her a ride home."

Rosalie rolled her eyes, but accepted this carefully-crafted technically-true answer. She resumed climbing into the car, though unwilling to completely drop the subject. "You're getting entirely too close to her."

"Not close enough, if you know what I mean," Emmett said with exaggerated emphasis. As I could read his mind, I did know exactly what he meant, and before I could think better of it I smacked him on the head.

Emmett burst into laughter. "He hit me! I must have hit close to home!"

"I just wanted you to stop being so crude."

Rosalie merely sniffed and turned to look out the window. _Maybe I should see what Carlisle has to say about this. Or Jasper._

I didn't respond, choosing not to rise to her bait as Alice and Jasper climbed into the car. Maybe someday she'd get over her unreasonable hatred of Bella. 

But not tonight. Once we got home she marched in the house, threw herself on the couch in front of the TV, and began flipping through channels at high speed. The fast pace was a deliberate tactic she used occasionally to keep me from reading beyond her surface thoughts, which meant she she was having a hard time not thinking about something she didn't want me to know about. It might have made more sense to spend the night out of my range, but in her stubborn mind that would probably be some kind of admittance of defeat.

Alice sat at her computer and began working on her latest fashion project. Emmett, sensing Rosalie's mood though not sure of the cause, sat beside her on the couch and snuggled close to her. Jasper considered going upstairs to pack for our trip, himself wary of Rosalie's mood, but decided he'd rather spend some time with Alice and pulled up a chair to watch her work. And I, after a few moments' deliberation, sat at my piano.

It had been too long since I'd sat here. Music was a huge part of my life, but since Bella appeared I'd let my own music-making fall by the wayside, opting for the distraction of playing one of my endless collection of CDs while I moped or rejoiced over the latest Bella development. But now the desire to create was once again burning through my veins, making my fingers itch.

I ran through some scales, testing the piano's tuning. Of course it was perfectly in pitch. I had Esme to thank for that; she kept everything in the house in impeccable order.

 _Edward's playing again._ Esme had been upstairs working on a sketch for a new project, but I heard her think of me as she put down her pencil. 

As I decided on a key and a chord progression, Esme followed her impulse and came down the stairs to hear me more clearly. As I began teasing a melody from the chord progression, I heard her stop in the doorway, not wanting to bother me. So I let the music take over.

I usually had images in my head when I composed. Today my mind dwelled on the dark forest outside, on the gray skies, and on wind with a touch of rain. The melody wound its way through the chords I'd chosen like wind through the trees, always minor, keeping close to the same octave. I wasn't sure where I was going with it and my fingers hesitated on the keys.

Esme came closer into the room. "It's lovely," she said aloud, laying a hand on my shoulder. "What inspired it?"

"The weather outside today," I said in an offhand manner.

Rosalie, listening despite herself, snorted at this comment. She knew I was dodging the question.

The weather itself wasn't the inspiration. It was the girl I'd been sharing it with. Bella and her beautiful blush...

I smiled suddenly, my fingers back on the keys as, with a drawn-out sequence, I led the piece from minor key to brilliant major. I played around with a similar but altered theme from the minor section, and used it to create an entirely new feel to the piece, one that was hopeful instead of gray.

"It's short," Alice said as the last few notes lingered in the air. _Don't know how it ends yet, huh?_ She flashed me a cheeky grin.

"I think it's wonderful," Esme said, forever the supportive mother. "Would you play it again?"

I nodded, but before I could touch the keys Alice gasped. She turned to Jasper and patted him on the arm, smiling up at him. "You aren't 'going hiking' any more. Peter and Charlotte are coming to visit!"

Jasper smiled as Emmett grumbled at our little hiking trip being cut down from three people to two. And I was frozen in place.

Peter and Charlotte were two vampires, a mated pair Jasper had known during the first half of his vampire life. They'd also chosen the leave the warring life Jasper had been turned for, but unlike him they hadn't given up their... original hunting habits.

And there was a new extra-good smelling person in town.

"They'll be here Saturday morning," Alice was saying, over Emmett's complaints. "They're not staying long, though; I think they're on their way to Canada."

Esme squeezed my shoulder gently. _Is everything all right? You've gone tense._

I nodded, trying to relax my shoulders as I thought furiously. 

Emmett would never let me hear the end of it if I canceled the trip, or even tried to postpone it until Jasper's friends were gone. And Esme would object to us missing extra school, beyond the sunny days we had to miss, in order to go hunting next week instead of tomorrow. And to cause that much of a fuss would draw more attention to me, and through me to Bella, than I wanted. I needed something more subtle.

I stood up from the piano. "Emmett, how soon can you be ready to go hunting?"

Emmett paused mid-grumble. "I'm ready now. Why?"

I turned to Jasper. "If we leave tonight and shorten the trip a little, we could be back in time for you to see Peter and Charlotte."

Emmett brightened at this idea. "Fuck yeah! You aren't getting out of the beginning of bear season that easily!"

Jasper sighed but smiled. "All right, let me pack." He kissed Alice on the cheek and headed upstairs.

"You boys have fun." Esme hugged me, then headed over to Emmett as he got up from the couch.

I wasn't finished with my plan yet. I left the room by way of Alice, briefly touching her hand in passing. She nodded once without looking up. _I'll meet you in your room._

After living in a couple of houses where vampire hearing inconvenienced all of us, we made sure to do what we could to soundproof whatever new home we moved into. Therefore, with me and Alice behind the closed door of my bedroom, we could be reasonably sure we wouldn't be heard as long as we kept our voice down. But of course, Alice didn't need to wait until the door was closed to address me. _I didn't know you liked Peter and Charlotte that much._

I closed the door behind her. "I don't. Any other time I'd simply leave Jasper behind." I took a step toward her, my hands out, Bella's face in my mind. "I need you to do something for me, and not tell anyone else about it."

 _What's wrong?_ Alice was surprised by the near-pleading tone of my voice. To be honest, I was a little surprised myself.

"Can you promise me that Peter and Charlotte won't arrive until Saturday morning?"

_You know I can't._

"But could you look?"

Alice nodded slowly. _But tell me why, first._ I sighed in frustration. She held up a hand. _If you can tell me why this is so important to you, I'll have a better chance of having a related vision._

Alice knew the most anyway, I told myself. And having her on my side could help prevent other, worse possibilities. "It's Bella," I admitted in a low voice. "I don't want to risk leaving if there's a possibility that..."

Alice nodded, her eyes full of understanding. _I should have guessed._

She headed to my couch over by the window, plopping down and getting herself comfortable. I followed, perching on the edge of my seat, my mind fully focused on Alice's.

Alice's mind slowly quieted, focusing hard on Peter and Charlotte and her most recent vision on one hand and Bella on the other, trying to see if there was a tie between them. she had a slightly different vision of the two vampires arriving somewhat later in the day, but it didn't seem concerning. She had a fuzzy, brief vision of Bella coming home after school. Several other visions, too nebulous to glean any information from, surfaced and sank back down. And then a clear one materialized.

It was a vaguely familiar marina in Port Angeles, on an evening with enough sun for there to be a sunset. Alice, and I through her, were watching a nervous-looking Bella walk a dock. Several couples and individuals were standing on the dock watching the sunset, and Bella glanced at each group she passed. 

Finally she paused by one of them, a young man who looked a little older than her, with hair as dark and nearly as long as hers. He glanced at her and nodded in greeting when she stood beside him. She nodded back, and they stood side-by-side, engaging in a conversation with body language so casual they could have been two strangers who merely happened to stand beside each other.

But they weren't strangers. Bella's body began to tense up. After a few moments, the man turned to face her fully, touching her on the shoulder. She glanced at him, giving Alice and I brief view of her miserable expression. The man pulled her into his arms.

The vision ended.

Alice and I sat quietly, both of us thinking of the vision. _Well,_ Alice thought finally, _she doesn't seem to be in danger._

I stood, taking several steps away from the couch. "No," I said, my voice flat. "She doesn't."


	10. Shift

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "They pass for human a lot more easily than we do..."

We'd split up to hunt, each of us tracking our favored prey, but it wasn't hard for me to locate Emmett when I was done. I didn't even have to listen to his mind - just for the roars.

"Back already?" Emmett called over to me. I wasn't even sure how he'd seen be around the bulk of the bear he was currently squaring off against. "What, the mountain lions get away from you?"

I settled myself down on a boulder far enough away to avoid attracting the bear's attention. "No, I just don't play with my food."

_What's the point if it isn't fun?_ Emmett went into a roll to avoid a swipe of the bear's paw, laughing as it bellowed.

I rolled my eyes, but didn't bother responding. Emmett was about to wrap things up anyway. I looked away as he crouched and sprang, wincing at the crash as the two solid bodies met the forest floor.

Jasper jogged up as the bear's roars died away and sprawled on the boulder beside me. He was always so much more relaxed after hunting. _Did I get any on me?_

I shook my head. "You're doing much better than that overgrown child over there."

Jasper smiled, revealing teeth stained red. _I know better than to risk the wrath of Alice._

I looked away. The love that crept into his mind whenever he thought of Alice usually made me feel simple loneliness, but today it made me... uncomfortable in a way I couldn't name.

Emmett, finally finished, came bounding over, with dirt, blood, fur, and leaves clinging to his clothes and hair. "What are we talking about?"

"How not to eat like a savage," Jasper said.

Emmett roared with laughter. "You're just whipped," he said. "And Eddie's a prissy little princess. I know how to have fun." He dropped to the ground and starting picking fur out of his teeth.

"Whipped," Jasper said mockingly. "I'm not the one who had to compliment Rose fifteen times a day to keep her from breaking my things."

"I don't have to sit through five-hour fashion shows."

"I don't have to grovel to ensure my car stays in working condition."

"I don't have to apologize for things I didn't do but that Ally saw in a vision and got mad at me for anyway."

"Yes you do, she made you apologize after you nearly ripped her favorite sweater last week!"

They both laughed. Emmett shook his head. "I'm telling you, Ed, don't ever get married." But despite his words, his mind was full of fond thoughts of Rosalie.

"I have to admit, I don't understand either one of you," I said lightly, struggling through my discomfort as I was surrounded with thoughts of intimate relationships. "It seems like so much work. Why on earth did either of you ever agree to it?"

Jasper smiled fondly, thinking back to the first day he'd seen Alice - she'd walked right up to him, looked him in the eye, and put her hand in his. Not even an introduction. And despite the cold of that day, and the fact that they were both vampires, he'd felt warm when she touched him. "I couldn't even begin to explain."

"I can," Emmett said. "Have you looked at Rose?" He growled under his breath, picturing something I desperately tried to block.

"You're such a gentleman," Jasper said.

Emmett laughed. "Just joking." _Well, a little._ "Of course I love everything about Rose. She's the full package."

"If she's the full package, Alice must be two packages," Jasper said.

"She certainly buys enough clothes for two."

They both laughed again. Jasper, noticing my mood, put a hand on my shoulder. "Don't worry, Ed, you'll find someone just as wonderful and exasperating eventually."

Wonderful. Exasperating. Warmth. Attraction. I shook off Jasper's hand and stood, swallowing against the tightness in my throat, speaking through the tightness in my chest. "We should head back. We can't miss the arrival of Peter and Charlotte, after all."

We arrived early Saturday morning. As Alice's second vision predicted, Peter and Charlotte arrived in the early afternoon. I made an appearance just long enough to say hello and hear the answer to Carlisle's usual questions, including: when did you eat last?

Two days ago a hundred or so miles south, came the casual reply. They had long ago become acquainted with and accustomed to this way Carlisle had of reminding them not to hunt in the area. I headed back upstairs, relieved.

I stayed in my room Saturday and much of Sunday. I had no need to leave the house, not while Peter and Charlotte were in it. And I had no desire for company, nor did Peter or Charlotte think much of me. Not that they disliked me, but they had always thought I was strange, even for a vampire. Apparently, knowing that someone in the room could read your mind is a concept one has to get used to.

I did finally leave my room when they began saying their goodbyes. It would be rude of me not to, and at the farewell the second half of Carlisle's reminder would take place. I needed to know the answer to his question.

Charlotte and Alice were hugging. Peter and Jasper were pulling away from an embrace themselves. Peter turned to Carlisle, shaking his hand and thanking him again for his hospitality.

"You're always welcome," came the warm reply. "Where are you headed next?"

"We'll continue north." I held my breath. Port Angeles was north of here, and I knew that was where Bella was right now. "We're thinking of spending some time in Canada, maybe even head all the way up to Alaska and finally meet those Denali friends of yours." As he thought of their possible routes - mostly through deep woods, I was glad to note - his eyes lit up as he suddenly remembered something. "You wouldn't happen to know something about a shifter in the area, would you?"

"A... shifter?" Jasper's confusion was echoed in the minds of my entire family.

Peter went on. "We thought we caught the scent of one in the woods on our way here, not too far from the town." Charlotte nodded beside him, remembering the patch of woods they'd been passing through. It looked vaguely familiar to me. "We could be mistaken, though; the scent was faint, and human enough that it would have to be a fairly young one. As far as I know they never send the young ones out alone. I hear they can be even more trouble than a newborn vampire." He chuckled a little.

My family was exchanging glances, still confused... all but Alice, who had caught my eye, her own eyes wide. In her mind played a vision, just now prompted, of me speeding toward Port Angeles as the sun set.

It had helped her make the same realization I already had.

"If it was a shifter, they must have been just passing through," I said loudly.

Everyone turned to look at me with varying degrees of surprise. Most of them hadn't even noticed I'd come down the stairs.

I took a few steps closer, striving to look nonchalant, hoping against hope that Rosalie would wait until Peter and Charlotte left to point out the lies I was about to tell. "I've been out in the woods a lot lately, including where you two were - I recognized the place you thought about just now, Charlotte - and didn't notice anything unusual."

They both looked uncomfortable. "Or - or in the town?" Peter asked. "They pass for human a lot more easily than we do..."

I shook my head. "No, nothing out of the ordinary."

Peter let out a breath, looking away from me. "We just wanted to be sure you knew. They can't keep close tabs on us nomads, but if they knew about you there would certainly be... trouble. You're outside the Volturi's protection, after all, and your lifestyle doesn't do the shifters any favors." Unfortunately, his discomfort with both me and the subject kept him from thinking about what he meant by such a statement.

"Thank you for the warning," I said firmly.

We all stood around awkwardly for a few seconds before Jasper broke the silence. "Well." Peter turned to him, eager to forget his unsettling impression of me by focusing again on his old friend. "If you happen to cross paths with Maria, tell her I wish her well."

"I doubt we will," Peter said with a half-forced laugh. Maria hated Peter nearly as much as she hated Jasper. "But I'll tell her, if we do happen to see her."

Another round of handshakes and hugs later, and with only one nervous backward glance at me, they headed for the front door.

The door closed with a click behind them. Two figures, running now, flashed past the window. My entire family stood still and silent.

Well, it was a kind of silence. The cacophony of thoughts was almost overwhelming.

Rosalie spoke first, as soon as she could be reasonably sure Peter and Charlotte were far enough away to not hear or see. "Carlisle, everything Edward said just now was a lie." She glared at me as if to burn me to ash on the spot.

"I got that impression, considering none of us know what a shifter is," Carlisle said, looking at me with a raised eyebrow. _You've run out of time, son._

I swallowed hard. I could take Rosalie's anger, but Carlisle's disappointment was another matter. "For the record," I said, trying to keep my voice steady, "I don't know what a shifter is either."

Rosalie's mouth dropped open as she realized I was telling the truth - about that, at least. "But - you -"

"However," Carlisle said, speaking over her, "you do know _who_ is a shifter."

Everyone stared at me. I nodded.

Nearly everyone in the room made the connection at the same time. Carlisle had already figured it out, of course. And Alice had known in almost the same moment I had.

Rosalie screeched, trying to throw herself at me. Emmett barely managed to hold her back. "THIS is what you've been hiding this whole time?"

But she was all bark, no bite. No, the real danger lay with someone who had gone one step beyond 'Bella is a shifter.'

Shifters cause trouble.

Shifters are a threat.

_That girl is a threat._

His mind was already sorting through possibilities.

"Jasper." I was unable to keep the growl out of my voice. "No one is going to touch her."

Alice laid a hand on his arm. Jasper deliberately met my eyes, taking Alice's hand and pulling her close to him, wrapping his arms around her. "I won't let anything threaten her."

We did not mean the same her.

A vision sprang up in Alice's mind. Bella and Jasper, squaring off in the woods behind Bella's house.

"No!" I nearly jumped Jasper then and there, but submitted to Carlisle's restraining hand on my arm. "She's not a threat to us!"

"I think," Carlisle said quietly, "it's time you actually explained yourself, and her."

"Please, Edward," Alice said, her mind rotating through different locations and times of day where Jasper could attack. Now I was in those visions, fighting to protect Bella. Sometimes Rosalie appeared, on Jasper's side. The family was splitting up before Alice's eyes.

I had tried so hard, and it still had come down to this. Emmett had his feet firmly planted, ready for another Rosalie outburst, though for now she had stopped fighting and was contenting herself with glares and unspoken insults. Jasper had Alice pinned to his side as she reeled with vision after vision, trying yet failing to see a path in the future that did not involve all of us fighting. And Carlisle and Esme stood side by side, radiating disappointment.

_Can't you see you're putting me in danger?_

No. I couldn't fail her now!

I started with the most pressing thing, the most immediate danger. Rosalie's anger and steady stream of curses and insults were nothing to Jasper's calm resolve. "Isabella Swan is not a threat to us. I swear it."

"And how do you know that?" Jasper said, with deadly calm. "You know Peter's thoughts about... 'shifters' better than I do, and I get the impression you don't have much on your side to counteract what he said."

"Which is an unusual state of affairs for you, Edward," Carlisle added. I pressed my lips together. "Are you asking us to believe that she never thought anything indicative around you? Or are you saying you knew her perfectly but kept it from us?"

"Neither," I said, hoping my voice didn't shake. "The truth is, I've only been able to read her mind twice -"

"What?" Rosalie's shriek cut off the rest of what I'd been about to say. "You can't read her mind? And you kept that from us the whole time?"

Yet another vision popped up in Alice's mind - Jasper, Rosalie, and now Emmett squaring off against me.

"Edward." Carlisle's voice was colder now than I'd ever heard it. I didn't dare face him as as he spoke. "What explanation do you have for putting this entire family in such danger?"

I stared down at my hands, determined to speak the truth even if it wasn't well received. "Because... because she was in danger first. The day that she was nearly hit by the van, when I took her home... she accused me of putting her in danger." I hesitated a moment, reluctant to admit that I'd put a near stranger over my family. "At the time, I couldn't... I didn't like the idea of immediately making her accusation true."

"You feared she'd be in danger if you told us all you knew of her," Carlisle clarified.

"Yes." Despite my shame, some small anger, some desire to protect Bella rose in my chest. "And what has happened tonight has only proved that belief true."

Jasper flinched mentally, but Alice's visions did not change. "You still haven't given us any assurance that she's not actually a threat."

"Hear me out, then." I glanced at Rosalie, who rolled her eyes. "Bella and I talked on Wednesday. She didn't let me back into her mind, but what she said corroborated things I had already assumed. For example, she said she'd known I was a vampire from the very first day." This was not well received, of course. Even Emmett was starting to have uneasy thoughts. "I admit, I had wondered... something in her eyes when she first passed me in biology had made me think she might know. But when she brushed off a classmate when he wanted to ask her about my actions, and when we got no hint of anyone else in town having any idea about it, I convinced myself I was wrong."

Jasper shook his head. "But even convincing yourself she didn't know, you knew she was different and didn't tell us. Your loyalty to the family seems to be faltering."

I had always prided myself on keeping my temper. My hands curled into fists as I tried to keep it now. "I don't see why loyalty to my family should mean harming an innocent girl."

"An 'innocent' girl who may be the undoing of us all," Rosalie spat. "Whatever she is, Peter knows she's a threat and that there are more of them!"

"Bella means us no harm!" I said, some anger creeping into my tone. "And as for the others... she told me this week that there are more like her, but she seems to fear them herself."

"All the more reason to think she'd tell them about us, and they'd come after us!"

I shook my head. "She was deliberately distancing herself from me in order to prevent attracting unwanted attention from the others!"

"Enough." Carlisle's steady voice cut through our noise. I relaxed as I heard what he was thinking. "Edward, if you're telling the truth now -" I nodded emphatically, meeting his eyes for the first time since this whole fiasco had started - "then, which I think Miss Swan not quite in the clear, at the very least we do not need to take immediate action. She has known for months and not said a word, after all."

Jasper muttered something under his breath, but I could see his resolve waver for just a moment - and a moment was all Alice needed. She sighed loudly in relief as a new vision broke through, one that caused a hitch in my own breathing.

Alice spun in Jasper's arms, reaching up to hug him. "I know you want to protect me," she said, speaking to him, but loudly enough to indicate she meant for all of us to hear. "But you don't need to protect us from Bella. She and I going to be great friends!"

I had to agree. Alice's vision had been of a hug - but instead of Jasper, Alice had had her arms wrapped around Bella.

The tension in the room lessened considerably. No matter his own thoughts on the matter, Jasper did not go against Alice's visions. "You're sure?"

"Mmhmm!" Alice pulled away to smile at the whole room - wilting Rosalie, relieved Emmett, calm Carlisle, pleased Esme.

I looked away from her gaze. The vision had caused a tightening in my chest that I didn't want to know the reason for.

Carlisle stepped forward, placing a hand on my shoulder. "It's up to you to prove that my decision, and Alice's vision, are correct."

"Of course." I glanced out the huge front window. The sun was beginning to set. "I need to go."

"Now?" Esme said, surprised.

I nodded, already heading toward the front door. "I need to make sure Peter and Charlotte steered clear of Port Angeles."

It was an incredible relief to close the door behind me, get into my car, and leave all the thoughts and emotions of my family behind.

Soon I would see Bella again.


	11. Sunset

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "How did you know where to find me?"

I made it to Port Angeles in record time, even for me. I always liked to drive fast but tonight I was a little reckless. Alice's vision of Bella in Port Angeles had been at sunset, so the longer after sunset I arrived the harder it would be to find her. 

I parked near the marina I'd seen in Alice's vision a few minutes after the sun dipped below the horizon. I was safe. I slipped out of my car and headed quickly down to the water.

Apparently watching the sunset from the dock was a popular activity; several couples and small groups, even more than I'd seen in Alice's vision, were heading away from the marina and back to their cars. I took a few steps to the side and scanned the crowd for Bella.

Instead, I saw another face I recognized: the man I'd seen meeting Bella in the vision.

I ducked down a little, making sure there were people in between me and the man, and kept my mind to myself. It was reasonable to assume this man was also a 'shifter,' like Bella, so the last thing I needed was for him to notice me.

Thankfully he didn't so much as glance my direction. I let out a breath I hadn't realized I was holding and continued making my way to the dock. 

Bella was exciting the dock just as I reached it. She caught of me and stopped dead, going pale. "Edward!" she hissed. She looked around quickly, then grabbed my hand - the sudden warmth was almost a shock - and pulled me back onto the dock, down one of the branches, putting a boat between us and the direction the man had been going.

After we were well hidden Bella stopped and, after throwing a glance over her shoulder, dropped my hand and faced me, less than a foot from me. My hand was tingling. I could feel her body heat radiating toward me. Her scent, heightened by her agitation and the faint flush on her skin, pooled around us. I swallowed down excess venom, but it was fairly easy today to keep her humanity in mind; my throat was barely burning. I struggled to collect my thoughts and focus on Bella's distressed expression.

"What are you doing here?" Bella asked, her voice pitched quite low.

"I was worried about you," I said, matching her volume. "We had some visitors this weekend, friends of Jasper's. I wanted to be sure they didn't cross paths with you."

To my surprise, Bella laughed. "Really. And here _I..._ never mind. Wait." She frowned. "How did you know where to find me?"

"I was there when when Mike invited you," I pointed out, trying to deflect out of habit.

She wasn't buying it. "Sun's been down what, ten minutes? You found me pretty quick for a town this size."

"Bella..." I hesitated. She raised an eyebrow. I gave up. "I have some things I need to tell you... and some questions I need answers to."

Bella groaned, putting a hand to her face. "I'm not going to like this, am I?"

"Probably not."

"And how long is it going to take?" Bella glanced to the horizon, which had no trace of sun. "My friends will be looking for me. They wanted to leave after sundown."

"It is after sundown."

"I _know."_ Bella tugged on the neckline of her sweater - blue today, it went wonderfully with her pale skin _focus Edward focus_ \- as she thought. "You can't give me the short version?"

"There is no short version," I said. "We could try tomorrow after school."

"I don't want to wait that long," she said. I didn't either. I wanted to get this over with. "How about... would you mind giving me a ride home?" She glanced at me, looking uncertain. 

"I don't mind." Understatement. I hadn't seen her for days. I didn't want to let her go.

"Okay." Bella pressed her lips together a moment, thinking. "We'll go find my friends, and you can read their minds to get them to leave me with you without it being weird."

"I'm not sure how possible _that_ is."

Bella smiled a little. "I know. But we can try."

Bella had left them earlier in the evening promising to meet them for dinner at a food stand near the water; it was likely, even though she'd stayed longer than she meant to, that they'd still be in the area. "I'm sure you can track them down if need be," Bella said as we headed that direction, walking close enough for her arm to occasionally brush the sleeve of my jacket. I found myself wishing she'd hold my hand again. I didn't dare take hers.

"Wouldn't they have called you by now, if they were leaving?" I asked.

"Um." Bella cleared her throat. "I'm not allowed a personal phone."

"Not... allowed?"

"Don't worry about it." Bella began to walk faster.

It was just as well that she didn't start explaining; we were nearing the food stand in question, and not only were there more people in general but some of them were looking for us. I spotted Mike's blond head easily as he stood in front of the food stand, looking back and forth with an uneasy expression. I honed in on his mind. _Where could she be? Should we call the police?_

"Mike is rather concerned about you," I murmured. "He's thinking about going to the police."

"I told him I might be late! He doesn't have to freak out about it," Bella muttered back, annoyance in her tone.

I couldn't help smiling at this response, and it was at that moment that Mike noticed us. His relief in seeing Bella was quickly marred when he saw me close beside her. He waved, trying to keep a scowl off his face. _What the hell is he doing here?_

The others in the group looked up as we approached; Angela, with a smile and a wave; Eric, with only mild interest before he returned his attention to his phone; and Jessica, who smiled with narrowed eyes. _Why is she with_ him? _Did they plan this? Is this a date?_ She was torn between jealousy and curiosity at the thought.

"Bella!" Mike said as we got within earshot. "We were getting worried." _Did he follow us up here? I shouldn't have said anything in front of him!_

"I'm sorry to worry you," Bella said. She gestured to me. "I met Edward over by the marina, and we lost track of time talking."

Jessica raised her eyebrows. _Sure you did._

"I'm sorry, but we ate without you," Angela said, sincere as always. "I'm sure you could get something to eat in the car, though."

That gave me the perfect opening. I turned to Bella, who looked up at me, and spoke with a gentle voice. I had only this short speech to counteract my reputation for being standoffish, rude, and vaguely threatening. I didn't want them worried about leaving Bella with me. "I'm so sorry I made you miss dinner with your friends. I haven't eaten yet either; how about we get dinner together and I drive you home so your friends can still leave on time?"

Bella's eyes widened slightly, and even though I wasn't looking at her Jessica's thoughts became momentarily incoherent. I realized with chagrin that I'd laid the charm on a little too thick; apparently I'd have to work on finding a balance between 'standoffish' and 'come-hither.' "Yeah, thanks," Bella said, her voice pitched slightly higher than normal. She looked back at her friends. "I'll see you all at school tomorrow, then."

"See you," said Mike brusquely. _Stupid Cullen! Why can't I be that smooth?_

"Bye!" Jessica said, her voice tight with excitement. _This is so a date. She'd better tell me everything tomorrow! That voice..._

"Good night, Bella," Angela said with a smile.

"Night," Eric said without looking up from his phone.

They all gathered their things. Bella waved at them as they began walking away, and two of us stood for a while, watching them.

Once they were decently out of earshot Bella turned to me. "It seems like that went well."

"Well enough," I said. "Jessica is going to grill you for details tomorrow at school - she assumes this is a date - and Mike regrets making plans in front of me and is sure I came up here on purpose to ruin them, and hates me for it. But I'm sure you can handle the two of them."

"Probably." Bella sighed. "Okay, so where did you park?"

I raised an eyebrow. "I meant what I said about taking you to dinner."

"Oh." Bella blushed a little. "You don't have to. I can just eat when I get home."

"Bella. I _want_ to take you to dinner."

She blushed harder. "O-okay. Somewhere here, or...?"

"Come on." I began walking, away from the stands and the water. It was a good bet that there would be some sit-down restaurants nearby, and I scanned nearby minds to see if anyone had gone somewhere they'd enjoyed tonight. Bella followed me.

Within a few minutes, guided by a recommendation someone didn't know they had given me, we arrived at a small Italian place. It was perfect - nice enough that I felt like I was actually treating Bella, causal enough for her not to feel uncomfortable, and empty enough that we should be able to have a corner to ourselves.

I suggested to the hostess that she seat us in a secluded booth, far from the other patrons scattered around the establishment. I used the same voice I'd used before when with Bella's friends, and again it worked a little too well; the hostess fumbled over her usual greeting and naming our server, and even as she left her thoughts were scrambled.

Bella clasped her hands together loosely, resting them on the table, her lower lip caught between her teeth. "You're biting your lip again," I said. I curled my hand into a fist to keep myself from reaching out to touch her as I had last week. Would she blush again as she had then?

She quickly pressed her lips together, then spoke, not looking at me. "You probably shouldn't do that."

"Point out when you're biting your lip?"

"That syrupy voice. It gives you and unfair advantage. Turns everyone to mush."

"Do I turn you to mush?" I asked, only half teasing.

She huffed a little, still not looking at me. Well, that was a kind of answer. "What was it you needed to tell me?"

The waitress came by before I could answer. She'd been prepped by the hostess and was now expecting me to show her something spectacular. She faced me as she named the specials and asked if we'd like anything to drink. I refrained from rolling my eyes. "Nothing for me, thanks," I said a little condescendingly, turning away. "Bella?"

Bella looked startled, almost panicked. "Um... can I have a water and... uh... the first special?"

I ran a hand through my hair as the waitress left, rebuffed by my coldness. "I'm not even sure where to start." As much as I wanted this conversation over, I was still worried about it happening. Our friendship was still so fragile. Could I tell her anything without scaring her away for good?

"How about this, then." To my surprise, Bella looked directly at me. "How did you know where to find me?"

Well, here we go. "I assume you know that vampires -" I hesitated only a little over the word - "all have some form of power."

She nodded. "You can read minds."

"Yes. And all of us have a different one. My sister Alice, for example, can see the future."

"Okay."

"Most of her visions come unprompted, usually when someone close to her - usually emotionally, but sometimes proximity also works - makes a decision that creates a distinct possible future. However, if she wants to, she can try to see a specific person's possible near future."

Bella's eyes narrowed. "So you asked her to spy on me."

"No! Well, not exactly..."

We both settled back in our seats as the waitress brought water by - one for me, 'just in case,' and she wanted to know if I'd changed my mind about ordering. I gave her a cold smile with a few more teeth than strictly necessary, and she hurried off again.

Bella was staring down at the table. "Not exactly?" Her voice was hard.

"After I got home on Wednesday, Alice had a vision of Peter and Charlotte - those friends of Jasper's I mentioned - coming to visit. They know they're not supposed to hunt in the area, but I was worried about you anyway, since you... smell so good." I paused to gauge Bella's reaction, but she didn't flinch. "So I asked Alice to check if there was a possible future where they crossed paths with you."

"And there was?"

"No." 

Bella sighed sharply, clenching her hands together. "Then why are you here?"

"Well, when they left, they said they were heading up north."

"But you just said there wasn't..."

"I asked Alice to look days before Jasper's friends arrived. Things can change, and Alice can't foresee them all, even if she tries." I hesitated, but there was no point in trying to keep this from her. "And... things happened, before they left, that made me particularly uneasy leaving it up to chance."

I fell silent as the waitress approached yet again, this time with Bella's food. This time she didn't so much as look at me. Good. She'd gotten the message.

But Bella pushed her plate aside instead of eating. "Go on." Her voice was shaking. She set her elbows on the table, propping her head up between her hands, her fingers curled at her mouth in a clearly protective gesture.

I wanted to touch her, to try to reassure her. My words certainly weren't going to. I took a deep breath and continued. "Before they left, Peter mentioned they'd caught a strange scent in the woods, and asked if we knew anything about a 'shifter' in the area." Bella paled instantly, her lips parting for a strangled gasp. I swallowed, dropping my voice. "I realized almost immediately that they must mean you."

"What did you tell them?" Bella whispered.

"As soon as I realized, I spoke up to throw them off. My family was confused, but I managed to get Peter and Charlotte to believe that we knew what they meant by 'shifter' and that there couldn't be any nearby. They themselves admitted they might be mistaken - something about the scent being faint and fairly close to human. They left none the wiser."

"But your family?"

"My family, of course, knew I was lying, and they quickly figured out who I was lying for. Unfortunately, they noticed there was something off about you long ago, though I kept them from doing much about it. But now they couldn't let it slide any more. They demanded an explanation."

"What happened?"

I hesitated.

"Edward." Her eyes were pleading. "Please, just tell me."

"Everything?" I asked.

Bella breathed out sharply as if she were about to cry. Her hands moved down to her neck, her fingers digging in slightly. "Did... did they want to kill me?"

"Jasper. Just Jasper." Bella opened her mouth to speak, but I hurried on. "He was created to fight in vampire wars. He can't help but take any threat very seriously."

"And he thinks I'm a threat."

"Not any more."

Bella laughed a mirthless little chuckle. "You're that convincing?"

"I did my best, I assure you. but in the end it was Alice. Her attempts to see the future were blocked by Jasper's determination, but once Carlisle - our father - agreed with me that you should be left alone, Jasper hesitated. That hesitation allowed a vision through, of you and Alice hugging." I pushed away that jealousy that rose, again, as I thought about the vision. "She was sure this meant you two would be great friends."

Bella's jaw dropped. "She was _hugging_ me?"

I nodded. 

Bella clapped her hands over her mouth, smothering a sob. I sat helplessly and watched as tears streamed down her face and her shoulders shook. This must have been too much for her. Was I losing her?

The initial sob was the only one. Within a moment or two, Bella had slowed her breathing again, and began using her sleeves to dry her tears. I silently unrolled my silverware and handed her the napkin. She took it carefully and resumed drying her flushed face. When she spoke, her voice was a little husky. "So that's it?" Alice says she's going to... be my friend, and everyone else backs off?"

"Jasper would never go against Alice."

"Oh."

Bella buried her face in the napkin and took a few quiet breaths. With a final sigh, she lowered the napkin, then pulled her food close to her with a sniffle. "What did I order?"

"Looks like some kind of ravioli," I said, surprised - both by the change in subject, and also by her asking _me_ what her food was. "Forgive me if I'm not quite up to speed on human foods."

"Ravioli?" Bella stabbed one with a fork and examined it carefully. 

"It's a kind of pasta."

"Oh. I know what pasta is." She tentatively put the speared food in her mouth, chewed a moment, sniffled again, and swallowed. "Not bad." She stabbed another.

I waited, letting her process and eat, not even sure what I'd say if I even wanted to talk. I felt drained.

Bella looked up a few moments later. Already the flush of tears was fading from her face. "You... you look upset," she said quietly. 

"I'm worried about you," I said. "I'm sure that was a lot to take in. And without being able to read your mind... I'm not sure what you think of it all."

"Huh." Bella looked down again, pushing pasta around her plate with her fork. "Honestly? _I'm_ not sure what I think of it all." She sighed. "I guess it kinda turned out okay, though."

"You think so?" I asked cautiously. 

Bella shrugged. "Your family agreed not to kill me, vampires who know exactly what I am were convinced I wasn't here, and Alice..." her lips trembled in an unsteady smile. "Alice is going to be my friend, I guess."

"And you're happy about that?" I was cautiously allowing myself to hope, but I needed to be sure.

Her smile grew. "I'm very happy no one is currently planning to kill me." She stabbed another ravioli and continued eating. 

"And about Alice?"

Bella looked at me and laughed a little. "Is that what you're most worried about?"

"Your response didn't exactly inspire confidence," I replied, my mood continuing to rise. "There were tears, remember?"

"You told me I could have died twice today. I had a lot of feelings."

I huffed. "I get the idea you're deliberately eluding me."

"You're going to have to explain that one." Bella popped another ravioli in her mouth.

It was by now a familiar phrase from her; she'd said it a few times when we were studying together the day I'd driven her home from school. "'Eluding' in this case... I'd say you were trying to dodge me. Does that make more sense?"

"Yep." She ate another ravioli. 

"Bella," I groaned. 

"Okay, okay, I'll tell you." Bella paused. "In the car." She looked down, suddenly shy. 

Then, it seemed, it was nothing bad; just something she was embarrassed about. I sighed in relief. "I was just worried you were upset about it."

"Why would I be?"

"Oh, I don't know," I said, lightly sarcastic. "You're sitting with a vampire who told you his vampire brother wanted to kill you today and that his vampire sister wants to be your friend. I would think you might be a little hesitant about the latter."

"Well." Bella paused to bite, chew, and swallow. "I'm friends with you, aren't I?"

Warmth, happiness, blossomed in my chest. "Yes."

She smiled back, even the corners of her eyes crinkling - she didn't usually smile so widely. "And you're a vampire."

It took me a moment to gather my scattered thoughts. That smile was doing strange things to me. "But look at you. Just sitting calmly after all this happened. And you _were_ crying."

Bella reached across the table and patted my hand. "If only you could read my mind," she said with a mocking sigh.

The waitress appeared with a check while I was still trying to formulate a response to my second glimpse of sassy Bella. I quickly pulled out a bill and sent the waitress away with a 'keep the change.' "Are you ready to go?" I asked. The sooner I got Bella in the car, the sooner I'd get some answers of my own.

"Sure." Bella popped the last ravioli in her mouth. "Tell me... what are you writing your English paper on?"


	12. Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "I didn't think we'd have anything in common, though."

Bella kept up a casual conversation about homework all the way to the car. Though the topic was light, her actions betrayed her nervousness; she fiddled with the hem of her sweater, couldn't meet my eyes, and once or twice went to bite her lip before stopping herself and blushing.

When we reached my car I unlocked and opened the passenger side door for her. But she hesitated outside, her hand on the door, holding her breath.

"What are you afraid of?"

Though my voice was quiet, she jumped a little. "Nothing." She still didn't get in the car.

I searched her face for the answers she seemed unwilling to give me. "Are you trying to convince me, or yourself?"

"Both?" Her voice squeaked a little.

"You'll be safe with me, I promise."

"You're not who I'm afraid of." It was muttered under her breath - did she think I couldn't hear her? I opened my mouth to ask who, then, but she sighed out the breath she'd been holding and finally climbed into the car.

By the time I slid behind the wheel Bella was buckled, her hands clasped tightly in her lap. She glanced my way, looking like she was trying to smile. "At least I have something to tell Jessica now."

"That's why we were talking about homework?" Bella nodded, and I chuckled, surprised. "Clever."

"Thank you." She sounded almost smug, but her anxiety was etched in every line of her body.

I backed out of my parking space, wondering how best to start start this conversation when she was so nervous. But before I could come up with something she spoke again. "Hey."

"Yes?"

"You never answered one of my questions."

"Which one?" Hadn't I told her everything?

"You said why you came looking for me, but not how you found me."

I ran through our conversation in my head. "I suppose you're right. It was Alice."

Bella sighed. "Of course. But -" she bit her lip for just a moment. "I thought she didn't have a vision of me?"

"She didn't have one of you and Jasper's friends, but she did have one of you." I briefly described the vision, staring out the windshield as I did so. I didn't want her to notice if my face or voice changed when I talked about the man I couldn't help but see as a rival for Bella's affections.

She nodded when I finished. "That's more or less what happened." She thought for a moment, then glanced my way. "So you missing Jacob wasn't luck. You knew to avoid him."

"Yes." Jacob. I had a name to the face now. The fact that I was gripping the steering wheel tighter was surely unrelated.

"Can I ask you a favor?" Bella said quietly, interrupting my jealous thoughts.

"Of course."

"Don't do that again." Bella's shoulders hunched. "I have enough people checking up on me already. Plus," she continued with a little more life in her tone, "you were in danger. I met him up here to make sure he wouldn't see you, and then what do you do? You run after me!"

I couldn't suppress a smile. "I can't promise Alice won't have another of you - as I said, most of them are unprompted - but I can certainly promise not to ask her to look for you."

"Thanks."

Bella kicked off her shoes, putting her feet up on the seat and wrapping her arms around her legs, making herself into a compact bundle. "I guess it's your turn now."

"Bella..." she looked so small and worried. I didn't want to add to that, but...

"Ask," Bella said. "Don't you need to prove to your family that I'm worth not killing?"

"I wouldn't put it like that."

"Why not?" Bella said dryly. "It's true, isn't it?"

I didn't answer her question, instead asking the first of my own. "What is a shifter?"

Bella pressed her forehead to her knees, and her voice came out a little muffled. "You can't guess?"

"I can," I said. "I assume it means _shape_ shifter."

"Yeah."

"But that doesn't tell me what you can 'shift' into."

Bella sighed, a little, sharp noise of distress. "Animals. We shift into animals."

So that was why Peter had said my family's way of life didn't do the shifters any favors. "Can you shift into any animal?"

"No. Each of us can only shift into one."

"What can you shift into?"

There was a pause. I glanced at Bella. She quickly looked away from me, resting her chin on her knees. "I'm... I'm a wolf."

I laughed before I could think better of it. Bella glanced at me, her brows furrowed, something like fear in her eyes. "What?"

"Sorry," I said with another chuckle, "but you're a werewolf? As your vampire friend, I find that very funny."

Bella scowled, but she looked somehow relieved as well. "I'm not a werewolf. Just a wolf."

"Okay," I said gently. Obviously she wasn't in the mood for teasing. "When did you first discover you could change into a wolf?"

"Um." Bella buried her head in her knees again and mumbled something even my advanced hearing didn't catch.

"What was that?"

"You have it backwards," she said a little more clearly.

"What do you mean?"

She made a noise halfway between a groan and a sigh. "I was born a wolf, not a human. On a reservation in Arizona."

I stared at her for a moment, shocked. "How is that possible?"

She shrugged dejectedly. "How are vampires possible?"

"Hmm. Point taken." I was beginning to regret having this conversation in the car. I still had to keep some of my attention on the road as I drove, but what I wanted was to devote all my concentration to pulling these answers out of Bella. "Then, how did you first change into a human?"

But Bella was quiet. I glanced her way again, to see her looking steadily at me. "You're taking this well."

"Did you not expect me to?" I asked.

"Well. That's what happened last time."

"There was a last time?"

"Never mind." Bella sighed. "Usually there's signs. That an animal is a shifter, I mean. So when they're old enough, they get taken away and injected, to force the first shift."

"Injected?" I repeated. this story was taking a turn toward horror movie, and the vampires hadn't even shown up yet. "They did that to you?"

Bella shook her head. "I didn't show any signs, so they didn't take me away."

"Then... how did you...?"

"I shifted on my own." Her arms tightened around her legs. "I had been old enough for months. The one other shifter born around the time I was had been taken away. Then, one night, a fight broke out between some of the adult wolves. I got pulled in somehow."

She didn't go on. "What happened?" I prompted gently.

Bella took in a deep breath and let it out. Her feet slid off the seat, her hands dropping to her lap. She grabbed the left-hand side of her sweater and pulled it up, reveling a six-inch scar in her side.

"Bella -" My voice was hoarse. I didn't know what to say.

"That happened." Bella's voice had changed. She sounded strangely calm. "It shouldn't have. First shift is usually a preteen, like ten or eleven years old, but I was only about five or six. Shifters are born with a power, like vampires are, and I should have been able to use mine, but I couldn't - or didn't. Even I don't know. I'm just lucky there was a worker nearby who could break up the fight."

That made at least three times now that Bella had faced death - that I knew of. I wondered how many more there could be. "Then they took you away?" I kept my voice low to keep it steady.

"Yeah." Bella clasped her hands in her lap, but loosely now. I wondered what the change had been, why she was so much calmer now. "I was given a name and a room in a big house with other new shifters. But I wasn't like them." One hand slid up, rubbing her arm as her story poured out of her. "For weeks, I couldn't shift on my own. They had to inject me, a lot, to get me to change. Even when I figured it out I couldn't hold it for long. I still can't. I sleep in wolf form every night, when most shifters my age can hold it for days.

"And it's not just that. After I could hold human form they started trying to teach me to speak, and that went just as bad. I could understand them but I couldn't say anything back. They thought maybe I'd never talk. But all shifters can read minds, so they were just always in my mind instead. Which is why my block is so good. I had to get privacy _somehow._

"My power was unpredictable too. I used to accidentally throw things across the room whenever I was frustrated or scared. Now I have it a little more under control, especially after what happened with the van."

"What did happen with the van?" I asked. I'd always wondered how she got out of that.

"My power -" Bella paused a moment, biting her lip. "I never remember the word they use to describe it. Tele-something."

"Telekinesis?" I offered.

"Yeah, that."

"So... you saw the van sliding toward you, and you..."

Bella rubbed the back of her neck. "I've never used that much at once before. I didn't even think, just put up my hand. And the next thing I knew, you were catching me as I fell to the ground."

I was thinking back to that day now, and things were clicking into place. "So, when you seemed so tired when I was driving you home that wasn't shock - that was you reacting to using your power so strongly?"

"Yeah, which is why I told you to leave me alone. I just needed to sleep." She flashed me a small smile. "My power is why I hate gym class. I see a ball coming toward me, and my instinct is to use my power to keep from getting attacked."

I smiled too. "You know, I think I understand that."

She looked surprised. "You do?"

"I assume you know of vampires' strength and speed." She nodded. "It takes decent concentration for us to move and react at human speeds. We all hate gym too."

"At least you're actually human. I'm also still a little more clumsy in human form." But Bella was really smiling now. "I didn't think we'd have anything in common, though."

"Aside from both of us being supernatural creatures hiding among unsuspecting humans?"

She chuckled. "Yeah, aside from the obvious. Us both hating the same class... it's so normal."

We sat in silence for a while. I broke it. "Thank you for sharing your past with me."

Bella's cheeks were reddening. "Thanks for listening." She sighed. "I bet you have more questions."

Only about a million. I started with the next-most burning question. "You did say you'd tell me why you cried in the restaurant."

Bella blushed harder. "I was hoping you'd forgotten."

"I forget nothing," I said in an attempt at lightness, but Bella didn't respond. "Why don't you want to talk about it?"

"Because... because I'm not even sure why I cried," Bella said in a rush. "It just happened. Maybe -" she paused, biting her lip for just a moment. "I think it might have been Jacob."

"What about him?" 

"HIs hug." Bella leaned back in her seat, staring at the ceiling of the car. "He and his friends tried to make time for me, even though they were a little older. He talked to me almost every day and his hugs were always so comforting. But tonight, it just wasn't." She sneaked a glance at me. "I didn't know why. But I've been thinking. When you told me about Alice and her vision, that she was excited to meet me and become friends, I realized - I wanted that. I think... I think here, Forks, is starting to feel more like home than Arizona ever did."

She was smiling again. I couldn't help but smile myself. I was happy, happy that Bella liked it here, that she wanted to be friends with Alice. It looked like something I'd despaired of might actually happen - would I be able to introduce Bella to my family? Could we be that close?

We were both quiet again, but for the first time, it was a completely comfortable silence. Bella's heart rate and breathing were normal, almost the calmest I'd heard her be ever in my presence; her posture was relaxed, and her hands loosely clasped in her lap.

I wanted to preserve this calm (and I had enough to tell my family, at least for now) but I didn't want to stop talking to Bella. As I searched for an easier topic I hit on something I thought was a brilliant idea. "So," I said gently, hoping she'd be okay with this, "you're a wolf."

"Yeah." Bella sounded a little hesitant.

"Might I get to see that sometime?"

Bella openly stared at me. "You want to see that?"

"Why wouldn't I?"

"You wouldn't think it's too weird?"

I laughed softly. "It's just you. Why would it be weird?"

She kept staring at me for another long moment. "You're weird," she said with finality, but a smile was tugging at the corner of her mouth.

"Is that a yes?"

She finally looked away, staring down at her hands in her lap. Her heartrate was up again, but she didn't seem upset. "I mean... if you really want to... I guess we could." She shook her head. "But it would have to be far away from everyone. I can't risk being seen by anyone else, and I can't risk Charlie seeing you."

My heart leapt at her words. "Well, I understand you're _not_ going to the dance on Saturday."

She giggled, a little nervously. "Yeah."

I flashed her a smile, trying to make it only a _little_ persuasive. "Then why don't the two of us get together? Alice says it's going to be sunny, so we'll have a trade - you show me your wolf form, and I'll show you how vampires look in the sunlight. I assume you've never seen a vampire in the sun?"

"I'd never seen a vampire at all before you." She frowned. "I know that myth says vampires burn in the sun and that's wrong, but I don't... Jacob told me once that you... sparkle?" 

"Yes."

"Why?"

I laughed. "Something having to do with how our bodies change when we turn, I'd say."

"But no one knows?"

"I don't think we have any vampire scientists trying to figure it out."

"Well _I_ would if _I_ were a vampire."

I laughed again, but a little sadness was tugging at my heart. My love for driving fast, which had served me well on the way to Port Angeles, was now working against me. We were already back in Forks and approaching her house. I wanted to spend as much time as I could with her, but she was going to have to leave me for the night.

I wondered if she felt at all the same way. I couldn't ask. For now, I'd rather not know if disappointment was a distinct possibility.

I parked in front of Bella's house. She looked up at me. "Thanks for tonight."

I wanted to touch her. I could easily recall how I'd felt when I'd touched her l lip the other day, and the warmth she'd shared with me when she took my hand today. But I kept my hands to myself. "You're welcome."

"I'll see you tomorrow?" Again, as with the first time in biology, her voice sounded unsure - as if it were a question.

I nodded. "And we'll work on your homework."

"Thanks." Bella flashed me a small smile before unbuckling, grabbing her shoes, and opening the door. She looked back at me before leaving. "Goodnight, Edward."

I loved hearing her say my name. "Goodnight, Bella."


	13. Conversation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Do you often read the minds of people around me?"

I didn't go home immediately. I wasn't sure what would be waiting for me there, and I wasn't ashamed to admit to myself that I was reluctant to find out. They'd agreed to not harm Bella, but there were any number of things they could do to punish me. Instead I drove the dark highways, barely leaving enough attention for the road while most of my mind was preoccupied with thoughts of Bella.

Her expressions. Her words. Her tears. Her smiles. I ran through the entire evening again and again, committing everything to memory.

It was nearly dawn when I finally turned my car toward home. I still didn't want to face the music, so to speak, but I was running out of time. I assumed I'd have to tell the others something as soon as possible, and I wanted to do it before school in case any of them conveniently forgot we'd agreed to not hurt her when they saw her at school.

The house seemed quiet and empty when I returned. A quick scan for minds showed that Rosalie and Emmett were actually gone, Alice and Jasper were cuddling in their room, and Carlisle and Esme were talking in their room. I headed upstairs to my parents and knocked on their door."

"Come in," came Esme's quiet answer.

I entered, staying just beyond the doorway. Questions swirled in the air between them. I waited for one to be asked.

It was Carlisle who spoke first. "I made sure the others really agreed not take any action against you or Bella unless I gave the go ahead. Can you provide anything that will allow me to stay my hand?"

I nodded. "Bella will do us no harm. I'm sure of it."

"Explain."

I thought through the night again, this time at full speed, and picked out the most important evidence to support my case. "I mentioned last night when I left that I was going to Port Angeles. I knew Bella was there tonight and we managed to spend some time together alone. We talked about... a lot of things, really..." Esme's mind perked up in interest, and I cleared my throat and continued. "She told me she'd actually been meeting another shifter that day, and she'd specifically arranged for the meeting to be in Port Angeles to keep the man from accidentally finding out about me."

Carlisle frowned. "Did it work, since you ended up following her?"

"Yes. I'd seen the man in a vision of Alice's so I knew to avoid him, and when she saw me Bella herself made sure the man didn't notice me."

"That is promising," Esme said. "Anything else?"

"Yes. You remember Alice's vision before I left, of her hugging Bella? I told Bella about it, and -" I quickly realized I wanted to keep out anything that might make Bella embarrassed - "she was very happy about it. Happier than she thought. She wants to be Alice's friend. And she called me her friend."

 _I have to ask._ "And do you have any reason to doubt her?"

"None," I said immediately, forcefully. "She was... very open. More than I expected. I'm keeping most of the conversation in confidence because it was that personal, but I'll say I didn't need Rosalie there to tell she was being honest."

Esme was smiling, and Carlisle was finally working himself back to calm after being on edge all night. He was trusting my words, and my opinion of Bella, and he was relieved. Though he'd do anything to protect this family, he would have been distressed to harm another to do so.

I glanced out the window, the light outside getting brighter even with the thick cloud cover between us and the sun. "Anything else?"

"Not right now." Carlisle rose from the couch and strode over to me, reaching out to hug me. "You've done well." I read his acceptance and forgiveness in his mind, and my shoulders relaxed as I returned the hug.

I was in my room changing for the new day at school when Alice knocked on my door. I could read what she had to say in her mind, but I opened the door and let her say it out loud anyway.

"We're leaving without you." _Rose's idea - and demand._ "See you at lunch."

"Maybe," I said, possibilities already rolling through my mind. A brief vision flashed in Alice's mind in response - me, at Bella's doorstep. We both smiled. "It _is_ a great idea, isn't it?" I said.

Alice grinned. "Let me know when I can meet her."

"I will, but be patient. She's still very scared and shy."

 _Okay, okay._ Alice skipped down the hallway.

I waited until everyone else had left for the day, then pelted down to my car, my chest tight and a wary smile on my face. I wasn't sure how Bella was going to respond to me showing up at her door, but nothing was going to keep me from finding out.

We lived much farther from the school than Bella did, so with some careful speeding I arrived in her neighborhood with plenty of time before she would leave. I parked at the end of the street to avoid Chief Swan's notice. Looking ahead with my mind, I found his, and saw Bella through his eyes. She was eating breakfast at the kitchen table as Chief Swan cleared and washed his dishes, thinking about the day ahead of him. Turning from the sink, he paused briefly on his way to the front door to give Bella a pat on the head. I was surprised by this gesture of affection but Bella gave him a small smile.

Chief Swan left the house in his police car not long after. I pulled up in front of the house about the same time his turned a corner at the other end of the road. I barely kept myself to a human speed as I left my car, heading to the door to knock.

Bella's footsteps approached and then the door opened a crack, Bella's cautious face peeping around it. Her eyes widened at the sight of me. "Edward?"

"I thought," I said, keeping my voice light and casual, "since I'm coming to your house after school anyway, we might as well ride together."

Bella opened the door a little wider, looking past me to my car. "Your siblings?"

"They rode with Rosalie today."

She gave me a look that I couldn't fathom the meaning of, but grabbed her backpack from the floor by the door. I waited by her while she locked up, then walked beside her to the car, taking care to get there just early enough to open the door for her.

Bella was silent as I pulled away from the curb. A glance in her direction showed that she was staring hard out the windshield. "Something on your mind?" I asked.

"I..." Bella trailed off, giving me a glance. She wilted a little and faced forward again. "Your siblings are upset with you."

Sometimes she was more observant than I wanted her to be. "You could say that."

"And it's my fault."

"No!" I said quickly. Bella frowned at me. She was no Rosalie, but I found myself telling her a fuller truth anyway. "They're upset _about_ you, I'd say, but it's my fault things turned out the way they did. I could have found a way to keep my family informed while also protecting you."

Bella smiled a little, looking down. "It's okay. I guess I could have handled this better too."

We reached the parking lot in a comfortable silence. For now, though I still had a million questions for her, I was content to just be with her. There would be time for questions after our relationship was a little more settled. This whole thing still felt incredibly delicate to me, and I didn't want to do anything that might overwhelm or scare her.

I took care to park far from Rosalie's car - no need to tempt fate by risking running into my siblings with Bella by my side - and Bella and started across the parking lot. She hummed a little in her throat as we walked, and I looked down to see her biting her lip. "Stop that," I said in a low voice, nudging her with my shoulder.

She jumped a little, but stopped biting. "I... I have a question."

"Yes?"

"Well..." She licked her lips. "How much do you read minds during school?"

"It depends on the day," I said, a trifle cautiously, uncomfortably reminded of how much time I'd been watching her through the minds of others.

She glanced up at me, her brows furrowed. "I've been keeping my mind closed most of the time, just in case you try to read it."

"I haven't tried to read your mind at all." It was true. Even Rosalie would have had to agree.

Bella let out a breath. "Good. Keep that up. And I'll start letting my mind open more. That'll be a relief. It'll help me talk to Jessica today."

I had also been thinking about that conversation, and intending to follow it. But now I had a question. "Do you think you'd be able to tell, if I was reading someone's mind at the same time you were?"

"Probably not," Bella said thoughtfully. "I mean, your mind isn't built for two way communication like mine is..." She trailed off, then glanced at me again. "Do you often read the minds of people around me?"

Whoops. Caught. I tried to keep my voice innocent. "Sometimes?"

"You'll have to stop that." Her tone brooked no argument.

I shrugged helplessly. "I just wanted to know more about you."

"You could ask," Bella said mildly.

"That wasn't an option until just recently," I pointed out. "And you edit."

"Of course I do!" Bella shook her head. "You might not realize this, since you can't turn your power off, but - sometimes people should be able to keep their thoughts to themselves."

I suddenly recalled what she'd told me last night. The very words flashed in my mind - _I have enough people checking up on me already._ Guilt, an emotion I was rapidly getting familiar with, rose up in my chest yet again. "I always find myself having to apologize to you," I said softly.

She smiled in response. "You can ask me," she repeated. "I'll answer."

"I am curious how your conversation with Jessica is going to go." I hesitated, then offered. "Want to sit together at lunch? My siblings are upset with me, after all."

"Won't us sitting together make them more upset?"

I shrugged. "I don't particularly care."

"Okay, fine." Bella was looking down, fiddling with the hem of her jacket, but I could hear the smile in her voice.

We were approaching her first class; I'd followed her all the way here without even thinking about it. She stopped in the doorway and turned to me, almost meeting my eyes. "I'll... see you at lunch, then, I guess."

I had to smile at her fumbling. "See you."


	14. Pretend

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "So, Jessica thinks we're dating."

By now, it was so much a habit to follow her around in the minds of others that I had to actively keep my mind from drifting that direction, but I couldn't break my promise to her just after I'd made it. Her gentle scolding had given me pause.

Even when I'd just been created, I'd thought of my ability to read the minds of others as something to be relieved about. With secrets to hide and new worlds to navigate it gave me an upper hand. Sure, in later years as I attended high school over and over, I had stopped being so interested in the thoughts of others. But I'd still dipped into the mind of everyone who was directly talking to me, and that went double for anyone I thought was interesting for any reason. Honestly, until Bella, I'd never felt guilty about my ability.

But when she'd said to me had struck a chord. Bella, coming from a childhood of what sounded like constant surveillance, surrounded by others, was asking me for her privacy. She'd asked me to tell Alice not to check up on her again. Told me, directly, to stay out of the minds of those around her - at least as far as them interacting with her was concerned. And, as difficult as it would be to come down from my pedestal of semi-omniscience, I could see her point.

More than that, I wanted to do whatever she asked of me. I'd do anything that could possibly make her trust me and want to be closer to me as I wanted to be closer to her.

So it was that, for the first time in weeks, I kept my mind to myself. I could have read the minds of those around me, of course, but why bother? None of them were as interesting as Bella, or even as interesting as trying to imagine what she was doing right now and how her conversation with Jessica would go.

Finally it was lunch time. I strode quickly through the halls. I had long since memorized Bella's schedule and knew exactly where to find her.

This was the class she shared with Jessica, and it was Jessica who came through the doorway first. She caught sight of me, leaning against the wall outside the door, and her eyes went wide. _That does it. I knew she was lying. They_ are _dating!_

I didn't smile at her thoughts - not reacting to thoughts about me was something I'd had to practice - but I did smile a moment later, because Bella had followed her friend out and caught sight of me herself. She smiled right back and I was warmed through.

"See you later, Bella," Jessica said in a voice heavy with meaning. _No more beating around the bush. Next class we're in, she's giving me ALL the details._

"Bye," Bella said, a trifle absently, apparently more focused on me than her friend.

We fell into to step beside each other, heading for the cafeteria. I noticed we were collecting a few stares and my smile grew. I enjoyed being seen with Bella.

Once inside Bella started heading to a back corner where there were some empty tables, but stopped, looking up at me. "Don't you need to get some food?"

"I'll skip it for today." I was far to impatient to take the time and effort that the illusion of eating lunch required.

Soon we were seated at a table by ourselves, me across from her. We had avoided the table where my siblings were seated, and all of them had ignored us anyway, even Alice. I didn't care. I watched impatiently as Bella rummaged in her backpack for her lunch. She wasn't looking for me as she spread out her food and prepared to eat.

Well, if she wasn't going to start this conversation, I could. "So, Jessica thinks we're dating."

Bella looked up at me sharply, but her expression soon softened. "I guess she was thinking that as she left?" I nodded, and Bella sighed, looking back down. "Are you mad at me?"

"I'm not going to be upset with you for something Jessica thinks," I said gently.

"But she wouldn't stop thinking it! I kept looking in her mind and trying to adjust what I was saying, but I couldn't change her mind. She'd already decided."

I shrugged. "What's more important is that she doesn't know what we were really talking about last night. Her assuming we're dating actually works in our favor there."

"I guess." Bella was blushing a little.

"What's that blush for?"

The blush intensified, and Bella looked away from me to her food. She carefully picked up her sandwich and took a bite.

"Bella," I groaned. "You promised."

"I know." Bella put down the sandwich and clasped her hands together. "It's just... I'm worried you won't like it."

"I highly doubt that," I said, getting more curious by the moment. "What are you trying to hide from me?" I kept my voice light so she knew I was teasing.

Bella bit her lip, but stopped almost immediately, giving me a nervous glance. "Um. Jessica, she..." she took a deep breath, then the words poured out in a rush. "She's jealous. She wants to be the one dating you. And when I realized that, I... I didn't want... I wanted her to think she doesn't have a chance. Because she doesn't." Her last sentence was said with a finality, almost a determination, that I didn't think Bella realized she was using.

A smile tugged at the corner of my mouth. "So, when you realized she wanted to date me, you stopped trying to convince her we weren't?"

She nodded. "I tried to just distract from that topic instead."

My smile grew. "Maybe she's not wrong."

"What do you mean?" Bella said, confusion obvious in her gaze.

I gestured to the two of us. "We're sitting together at lunch after I drove us to school. We had dinner last night and I drove you home. We're going to your house after school, something we intend to keep doing more often than not. Doesn't that sound l like we're dating?"

"I guess," Bella said, looking down at the table as her blush faded. She fidgeted with the small plastic bag her sandwich had been in. "I'm sorry."

I didn't know whether to laugh or to sigh. "What on earth are you sorry for?"

"I - I didn't want - I know you don't -" She pressed her lips together, seeming to give up on forming a coherent sentence.

I stared at her curiously. Didn't want to what? Knew I didn't _what?_ "Bella, what are you trying to say?"

She sighed softly, running a hand through her hair. "You and I have enough secrets, enough things we have to pretend," she said hesitantly. "I didn't mean to add something else."

All at once I understood. I'd thought my feelings and desires were fairly clear, but I should have realized Bella wouldn't see things the same way I would - nor was it fair to her to keep quiet and wait for her to notice.

"Bella." I waited until her reluctant eyes met mine, and I calmly held her gaze. "I really don't mind if people think we're dating."

She blushed again. "Why - why not?"

"Because I like you."

Bella's eyes went wide, and she sat perfectly still, staring at me. "You do?" she whispered. I nodded. "Oh." She looked down at the table. "Oh."

No nervous movements. Her blush was facing. Her heart calmed its racing. But she looked - disappointed? It was my turn to fidget. What would she say?

"Edward." Her voice was quiet, almost empty. "Even if we could..." She didn't finish.

"We can't?" I said, trying to keep my voice steady, breathing through a tightness in my throat. "Why not?"

Bella buried her face in her hands. "Do you realize what you're saying? What we are?"

"Friends?" I said, a weak attempt at a joke.

Unexpectedly, Bella actually laughed. "Well, yeah. But I was thinking about the - if anyone back in Arizona knew -" She shook her head. "I heard this phrase once: 'mortal enemies.'"

"'Mortal enemies'?" I repeated slowly. "Is that what you and I are, Bella?"

"Uh." Bella made a little note of distress in her throat. "No, of course we aren't. But vampires and shifters..."

I could see, between her hands, that she was chewing her lip. "Bell." I leaned over the table and cautiously, gently, touched her chin. She sighed sharply, her hands trembling over her eyes, but stopped worrying at her lip. "If you want no more than friendship, of course that's what we'll have. I didn't mean to put any obligation on you with what I said; I only wanted you to know how I felt.

"But also," I said, sitting up straight again," we aren't talking about the idea of 'vampires' and 'shifters.'" We're talking about you, and about me. I've made a choice for my own happiness, and I'm dealing with my family as I need to. I want you to also make a decision for your own happiness, without being held back by the "them" who sent you here."

Still Bella sat with her hands over her eyes, quiet, shaking slightly. I sighed noiselessly, careful that she wouldn't hear. "If you want me to go, just ask me to go. I'll go."

"Not... not yet."

"Not yet?"

Bella slowly lowered her hands to her cheeks. She couldn't quite meet my eyes. "I'm not saying no. To... to trying to date. But... not yet."

"Okay." Was this what it would feel like, if I were still human, and on the brink of tears? I swallowed hard, unclenching fists I hadn't realized I'd clenched. But she hadn't said no. I could handle 'not yet.' I'd already done a lot of waiting for Bella. I could wait a little longer for an answer.

Bella went back to her lunch, as if to try to clear away the previous conversation. I allowed myself to be distracted by it, looking at her food myself. The sandwich I understood, but it was accompanied by what looked like twisted bits of leather. "Is that - jerky?" I asked, finding the name somewhere in my mind.

"Yeah," Bella said, sounding just as relieved as I felt in a change from tense conversation to casual. "It's hard to have a meat-heavy diet when I have to pack it up."

"Then... do you have to eat like the animal you're born as?" I could easily put the previous conversation aside if I could learn more about her.

"Kinda," Bella said with a nod. "Most shifters can get away with pretty much eating like a human, but because I spend more time as a wolf it feels a lot better to eat more like a wolf."

"What other animals can shifters turn into?"

"A lot of things." Bella took a bite and chewed before answering. "I heard it could be anything. But I don't believe that. And anyway, everyone I've met or heard of is a mammal - wolves and bears here, tigers and leopards in Asia and Africa, things like that." She looked up at me speculatively. "Shifters only recently started gathering in the Americas, and we're mostly in the south. I guess that's how your family has been kept in the dark."

"Kept in the dark?" The way she phrased it sounded like it was deliberate.

Unfortunately, it was. "You vampires have some kind of leader group, don't you? They know about us. There's some kind of treaty between that group and the Council - the people who lead the shifters. So if your family talks to that group at all, they chose not to tell you."

"That does sound like something Aro might do," I said slowly, thinking about the various dangerous personalities in the Vultura. "Especially since we feed on animals. He might have been hoping one of us would accidentally attack a shifter. He would love watching what happened."

Bella shook her head. "Is he trying to start a war?"

That was a sobering thought.

"We're at a disadvantage," Bella continued. "You vampires can create more of you whenever you want, but we have to wait and see what animals are shifters. So shifters have been expanding more and more all over the world to try to catch and train more shifters. Even though the treaty says that the vampires can't just create more vampires all the time, the Council doesn't really trust them." She suddenly looked embarrassed. "Or that's what I've heard. No one actually tells me these things."

A question occurred to me. It was rather embarrassing, but I asked anyway, wanting to get away from rumors of war. "You said 'wait and see what animals are shifters.' Can you not... shifters can't have children?"

Bella looked at me, her head tilted to the side. "How would that be possible? We change form all the time. It wouldn't work."

The bell rang then. Bella jumped, then laughed a little. I laughed with her. "Time for class," I said, a little regretfully. I wanted to keep talking to her. But at least we had the next class together.

Bella was getting better in biology: she rarely needed my help, and sometimes had time to doodle in her notes. I found this just as fascinating as everything else she did. She drew various things; mostly flowers, but occasionally people or landscapes. Today she drew something that looked slightly familiar - it might be the view of the forest from her back door.

We walked together to her last class. Outside the gym we stopped and faced each other, as we had done earlier today at her first class. "I'll see you after class?" Bella asked, looking a little uncertain.

I had to smile. How long would it take her to realize I'd be here as long as she wanted? As long as she'd let me? "I'll meet you here," I said.

She smiled shyly. "See you then."

"See you."

I watched her as she turned and headed into the locker rooms. Then, not caring to hurry, I headed toward Spanish.

I reached the classroom just before the bell rang and headed back to my seat next to Emmett. I looked into his mind as I approached, worried how he'd react to me after so much time with Rosalie, but he greeted me with a smile. _Hey bro._

I nodded in response, only realizing I was still smiling when I saw my face in Emmett's mind. _You're awfully happy for someone who's on everyone's bad list right now._

"Mostly just Rosalie," I replied in a barely audible murmur. "Alice, on the other hand, is pretty happy."

_You're on my bad list for making me deal with Rose when she's like this,_ Emmett thought, but it was clear in his mind that he didn't really care that much. So far it wasn't anything he couldn't handle, especially since it wasn't him she was angry with.

But I felt a little guilty anyway. Rosalie and I had always had an uneasy relationship, but we'd never fought as we were right now. I wondered how long it would take for her to calm down. What if she was still angry when I started introducing Bella to Alice? And possibly to the others?

I wanted Bella to know my family, to... dare I even hope for it? I might want her to be part of my family. Was it possible? Alice was eager to meet her future friend, Esme would be warm and welcoming as always, Carlisle was curious, but the others? Jasper? Rosalie?

The end of school bell thankfully released me from my melancholy wondering, and I stood up in a rush. I was already more than ready to see Bella again. Emmett shook his head and sighed mockingly. _You're pathetic._ I ignored him.

It didn't matter how cold my family was, if I could bask in Bella's warmth.

Bella was waiting for me outside gym, looking a little nervous - or possibly even guilty. I was about to ask her if something happened when the source made itself known to me: Mike Newton came out of the men's locker room and glared at me hard before turning and marching down the hallway. _I hate him, him and his stupid face and his stupid car and his stupid moves. Why did he have to be interested in Bella?_

I looked away from him down to Bella's now curious face. "What?" she asked.

"Mike," I said. "He's much angrier today than last night."

Bella gave me another one of her brilliant blushes, the tips of her ears turning pink. "Um. Well. He - and the entire gym class - also don't believe me when I say you and me aren't dating."

I couldn't help smirking. Mike had won all the early battles, but I had won the war. "Poor guy."

Bella sighed. "And I tried so hard to get him and Jessica together so he'd back off me." She turned and began walking down the hallway.

I fell into step beside her. "Yes, but she was always a second best to him."

"Jessica doesn't deserve that." Bella had dropped her voice to a pitch where a human walking beside her wouldn't have heard.

I matched her volume. "If it makes you feel better, remember she's jealous of you for being with me."

Bella glanced at me with a raised eyebrow. "I'm with you, huh?"

I gently knocked her shoulder with mine. "Let's see, you're about to get into my car so we can drive to your house and spend the afternoon doing homework. That works for a definition of 'with,' doesn't it?"

"You're dumb." The smile on Bella's face made it clear she was teasing.

As we settled in my car, I asked, "How was gym? Aside from Mike, of course."

"Terrible," Bella groaned. "I hit myself on the head with the racket and hit someone else with the little - the thing - the birdie." She sighed in clear frustration. "Why does gym have to be a required class?"

"Have you seen the rampant obesity in America?" I asked. "We need to educate our children on proper exercise, lest we all blow up like balloons."

"Okay, so, I spend half of almost every night running around the forest," Bella shot back. "I don't need a stupid class full of stupid sports to keep me fit."

"Do you really?" I asked, curious now.

"Oh yeah," she said. "I already told you, I'm more comfortable as a wolf, but it's weird to be a wolf wandering around a house - and I don't really fit. I'm much happier in the forest." She gave me a side glance. "It was such a relief when you told me your family never hunts near the town. All those weeks, between you tracking me and us talking, I was too scared to go very far from the house."

"I'm sorry," I said. "Sometimes it seems like I do nothing but cause you trouble."

"You don't just cause me trouble," Bella said, her tone teasing. "Sometimes you help me with my homework."

I laughed, the sound getting less strange to my ears.

At Bella's house we quickly settled down to her homework. Bella was eager to get caught up on all her classes now that she had a success in one class to give her confidence, and we easily whiled away the hours working on math, English, and any other homework she had. We made serious headway, and as twilight approached Bella leaned back in her chair and stretched. "Thank you so much," she said. "I think one or two days more like this I should be all caught up, and we can try reading." She glanced at me. "If you're still okay helping me with that."

I nodded. "I'm happy to help you with whatever you need doing."

"Thanks." Bella gave me a warm smile. "Now, let's get you out of here before Charlie sees you or your car - and so I can take a nap."

She followed me to the door. I lingered on the doorstep, one foot on the porch, one food still in the doorway. "Should I pick you up for school tomorrow?"

Bella leaned on the edge of the open door. "If you want to."

"Okay," I said patiently, "but do you want me to?"

Bella considered a moment, biting her lip. I raised my finger, ready to tap her lip again, but she saw me and smiled instead. I smiled back.

Suddenly her nervousness was gone. She straightened her shoulders. "Yeah, I want you to pick me up tomorrow."

"I'll be here as soon as Chief Swan is gone."

"Thanks, I'll see you then."

"See you."

I took one last look at her before turning to head back to my car.


	15. Open

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "You're driving me crazy."

I was there, as promised, right after Chief Swan left. Bella climbed into my car with a tired smile.

"How did you sleep last night?" I asked, watching as she settled comfortably into the passenger seat.

"Not too well," Bella admitted. "I have a lot to think about."

"I'm sorry."

Bella shrugged. "It's not your fault. Well, not really."

I chuckled. "Not really?"

"Oh..." Bella sighed, but was still smiling. "My life would be so much easier if I didn't have Mike and Jessica fighting over you and me, and if your family wasn't freaking out about who I am, if everything was just... a little bit more normal. But I guess that's too much to ask."

"Yes, normal is a bit difficult when there's supernatural creatures involved."

I walked her to her first class again. Would this become our routine? We chatted lightly, this time talking about Arizona, comparing it to living here.

"I like the forest much better than the desert," Bella said as we reached her first class. "It makes me feel... safe. The desert is too open. And way too hot," she added, wrinkling her nose. She lowered her voice so only I could hear her. "When you have a lot of fur, you prefer cooler weather."

We exchanged smiles, symbols of the secrets we shared with each other.

The warning bell rang, and Bella sighed again - for real this time. "Lunch?"

"Lunch," I replied firmly.

She turned to go into her class, and as she did I involuntarily raised my hand - to do what? Take her hand? Touch her face? I pulled my hand back before she could notice. This was different from touching her to point out she was biting her lip or bumping her shoulder when we talked. I was wanting all those casual little touches that people who were dating engaged in. And Bella had not agreed to that.

But that didn't mean I didn't think about it. I met Bella for lunch (Jessica bid her a jealous goodbye) and I wanted to put my arm around her as we walked to the lunchroom. In the lunch line, as I got food I wasn't going to eat, I wanted to hold her hand. Sitting next to each other in biology, I wanted to rest my hand on her leg or brush it down her arm. Doing homework at her kitchen table, I wanted to play with her hair. Leaving her for the night, I wanted to touch her cheek. And picking her up the next morning... it all started over again.

I wasn't going to make any move that she wasn't ready for, that she wouldn't welcome. I'd told her how I felt and her answer had been full of hesitation and uncertainty. I was going to wait until she was happy for me to touch her - until she wanted to be closer to me in the same way.

But it certainly wasn't easy. And of course, life conspired to make it even more difficult.

On Wednesday Mr. Banner entered the biology classroom dragging a stand with an ancient TV. The class lit up in anticipation - movie days were something they didn't take lightly. No notes, little to no testable material, and the darkness of the room made napping, note passing, and other clandestine activities easy.

I was also happy for the break, happy to spend more time just sitting with Bella. Maybe, since both of us could hear so well, we could risk having a conversation. If not I'd be happy to just sit and watch her - or so I thought, until the lights went out.

I wasn't sure what it was, but in the darkness it was like I could already feel her. I was so aware of her body next to me; her heat so close, her scent gently swirling around me, her arm and leg and face within my reach. I balled my hands into fists, tucking my arms tightly against my chest, fighting against the suddenly much stronger impulse to touch her.

I don't know how I got through that class period without giving in. I watched as she shifted in her seat, tapped her fingers softly on the table, drew patterns on her jeans, rested her head on her hand with her elbow propped on the table, and, every few minutes forced open her drooping eyelids.

Every moment a new idea of how and where to touch to touch her crossed my mind. My hand was tingling, almost numb, at the ideas that crossed my mind, wanting the warmth she'd give me.

By the time the lights came back on I was completely tense. I stretched my arms in front of me with a sigh, then turned to see Bella looking at me curiously. "You okay?" she asked.

"Yes," I said, giving her the best smile I could muster.

She didn't look as if she completely believed me, but she gave me a tired smile back.

Homework, car rides, lunch, and all I could think about was biology. We had at least one more day of the video. Would that energy between us be as strong as before?

It was stronger.

And what was worse, Bella was even more restless. She seemed to be on the edge of of falling asleep; several times she would droop only to start awake, and her movements seemed less out of boredom and more an effort to keep her from falling asleep. Finally, she settled on combing through her hair, which was a new kind of torture. She was using her left hand, the one closest to me, and every time she pulled her hair into my field of vision she sent a gust of her scent over me.

The scent was powerful in both ways. The sweetness was striking me with more force than usual, and I found myself swallowing down excess venom. However, the spiciness was more than present enough to keep my thirst under control - but that meant it was strong enough to keep me obsessed with the idea of touching her.

Finally I broke. We still had fifteen minutes left in class, and if I didn't do something soon I was... well, I wasn't sure what I was going to do, but I didn't want to find out. I carefully unfolded my arms, keeping my actions slow and controlled, and when Bella's hand next escaped her thick hair I snagged it.

Bella started slightly, turning to look at me with round, confused eyes. I leaned in close, murmuring as softly as I could into her ear. "You're driving me crazy."

Bella's fingers curled around mine as she leaned toward me. "I'm sorry," she whispered, her breath warming my ear. "I'm just so tired..."

"I can tell."

I'd only intended to stop her - at least that was the promise I'd demanded of myself before allowing myself to touch her - but letting go was harder than I thought. And after all, I told myself, she was holding my hand back. So instead of letting go I brought our clasped hands down to rest on my knee. "We only have another fifteen minutes."

Bella sighed. "I can try to stay awake."

After a minute or two she started rubbing her thumb in circles on the back of my hand. I hadn't been paying any particular attention to the movie to begin with, but now I had absolutely no idea what was going on. All my attention was zeroed in on the back of my hand. Likely the room could have caught fire and I wouldn't have noticed.

The bell rang after far too short yet far too long a time. Bella's hand had left mine by the time the lights came back on. She leaned back in her chair, stretching her arms over her head, letting out a tired sigh. She shook herself lightly and stood.

We walked silently to gym. Bella's eyes were still drooping, her feet dragging a little. I watched her with concern, and when she turned to say goodbye to me I spoke. "Are you sure you want to meet for homework today? You look exhausted."

Bella opened her mouth, but a yawn prevented her from speaking for a moment. Still, she shook her head. "I usually take a nap after school, but since we've been doing homework... but it's okay. Moving around in gym will wake me right up."

"Are you sure?"

She nodded. "It worked yesterday."

It seemed she was right. She looked quite awake when I came to pick her up, smiling as she saw me. "I told you I'd be fine."

"Okay, you win."

We'd caught up on all her overdue homework the day before, so after finishing that day's homework it was time for reading. Bella pushed away from the table and stretched, much as she'd done in biology. "Let's read on the couch. That should be more comfortable than sitting at the table."

I headed for the couch in the living room, sitting down on one end. Bella paused to pull a blanket off the other end of the couch. She sat on the cushion next to mine, close enough that we could both easily see the book, but far enough that we weren't quite touching. She arranged the blanket on her lap and opened the book to read aloud.

She'd gone a couple of pages, with occasional pauses for me to correct her pronunciation, define a word, or explain a concept, when I realized she was reading slower and slower. A glance at her face told me why: her eyelids were drooping again. Apparently gym had been only a temporary revival today.

I took advantage of a pause to say something. "You're exhausted."

"No."

That was all she said. I raised an eyebrow and continued. "You're falling asleep again."

"Am not."

"I should go and let you take a nap." I didn't want to, but...

"Shhhhh." Bella drew out the sound, as if to cover anything else I might say. But instead I obeyed and closed my mouth.

The book slid from Bella's hands and hit the floor. She slowly slid sideways until her head rested against my shoulder. Her breathing was slow and quiet, her heartbeat even. Her eyes were closed. She'd dozed off.

Well. This was an acceptable turn of events. Carefully, so I didn't jostle her at all, I pulled the blanket up over her shoulders, tucking it gently around her. She wiggled a little in her sleep, snuggling closer to me, and I thought my heart would burst out of my chest. I leaned my head back against the couch, closed my eyes, and sighed, letting my mind wander.

It took several minutes for me to realize there was something different in the room, and to figure what it was. Contentment, exhaustion, a feeling of safety, and an undertone of stress and worry - these emotions didn't seem to be my own, and all at once I understood.

Bella's mind had opened when she fell asleep.

Her open, sleeping mind wandered from nebulous thought to ephemeral feeling, never forming clear words, never staying in the same place for more than a few moments. I focused on it and a stillness fell over me. Relaxation, as these wisps of thought floated around me. It was the closest I had gotten to sleeping since I had become a vampire.

Suddenly, Bella startled awake, her mind closing in the same moment. She tumbled off the coach, tangling in the blanket and nearly falling to the floor. She ran to the window and peeked through the blinds. When she turned back to me, her face was as white as mine. "Run."

I stood up but made no move to leave. "What's wrong?"

"Run," Bella repeated, a note of desperation in her quiet voice. She took a few steps closer to me, lowering her voice further. "Out the back door. Be fast and quiet. Out at least a couple of miles." She turned to look toward her front door. "I'll find you when it's safe."

Though I was more confused than anything, I understood from her demeanor that something was seriously wrong. I obeyed, fleeing through the back door as I heard footsteps approaching Bella's front door.


	16. Trust

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "And I just want to do something... normal."

It took me mere moments to cover the required 'couple of miles.' I stopped running, but started pacing, my mind full of what might be happening at Bella's house. There were two options I could think of: either Chief Swan had come home early, or... or it had to be another shifter.

That second one seemed more likely. It also had much more potential for disaster.

I waited and paced, paced and waited, keeping my mind to myself. I wanted so badly to know what was happening and if Bella was all right. But I couldn't risk trying to look ahead to find out. If it was a shifter, there was too much chance that they'd find my mind as I searched for Bella's. Not that it was likely her mind would be open anyway.

But it was torture to just wait.

_Edward._ I recognized the voice instantly. _It's safe now._

That was all, and Bella's mind withdrew. I immediately turned in the direction of the house and ran.

Bella was waiting for me on the back porch, without a jacket, her clothes rumpled, her face still a little pale. I slowed to a normal pace as I walked up to her, and she watched me, her eyes round, her hands clenched at her sides.

She reached out for me as I approached her, and in a moment she had her arms around me, her head resting against my chest. She let out a long sigh as I hugged her back. "You're safe," she said quietly. I wasn't sure if she was telling me or reassuring herself.

She wasn't as warm as usual, and as I held her I could feel her shivering. "You're freezing," I said, my voice gentle. "Let's get you inside."

She nodded into my chest and let me go.

She went right back to the living room, grabbing the blanket off the floor where it had fallen and pulling it around her shoulders. She sat on the couch, feet tucked up under her, the blanket wrapped securely around herself as she stared at the floor.

I sat on the end of the couch again. "What happened?"

"Jacob." The word was mumbled, barely audible. "He wasn't happy with what he saw on Sunday. Wanted to see me again."

So it had been a shifter. I let out a breath, trying to calm myself. "And?"

"You're safe," Bella repeated, huddling in on herself even more. "He saw your car outside but I told him it must belong to a neighbor. He thought I 'looked weird' but I told him it was from waking up from my nap so suddenly. He thought the house smelled weird but I told him I'd burned something cooking."

Smelled weird? I hadn't considered it before, but - "Do vampires have a scent, then?"

Bella nodded. "But we're lucky there. You and your family smell different from other vampires. Actually, you barely smell at all. Jacob would have known in an instant if you were the kind of vampire who drank human blood."

I was silent for a while, realizing how close a brush this was. I couldn't help but feel a little guilty for a moment, thinking of my family and the trust they - most of them - were putting in me and Bella. But I pushed the thought away. Her quick thinking had kept us both safe, I reminded myself. And we could expect some degree of danger just from us being friends.

Bella sighed again. "But it's not just that he came here again and almost saw you. He told me he was just passing through. Which means he's on a job. And - he's a tracker."

"A tracker?" This didn't sound good.

"He and his friends all are. They find nomadic vampires who are... causing trouble, I guess, and they... stop the trouble." She glanced at me, her eyes full of worry. "I hope not - normally they're not so far behind, but - it might be that he's after Jasper's friends."

"We'll warn them," I said firmly. "I'm sure they'll be fine."

"I hope so."

We were silent for a moment before Bella spoke again. "Do you mind if we get back to reading?"

"I don't mind, but - are you sure you're up for that?"

She nodded. "I'm awake again. And I'm mostly calm. And I just want to do something... normal."

"Okay," I said, watching her as she leaned over and fumbled on the floor for her book. My heart ached a little for how distressed she'd sounded, for her desire for some small sense of normality. The best way to help her was to give her that. "But you need more sleep. I don't want you to be this tired when we hang out on Saturday."

"Then let's not do homework tomorrow," Bella said. "You can have the day off, and I'll get a longer nap."

"Sounds good to me." Not that I wanted a day off from helping her, but not seeing her after school tomorrow was a decent trade to ensure she'd be awake and aware on Saturday. I leaned a little closer to Bella, a little closer to the book, and we went back to reading.

It seemed to work. By the time I had to leave, Bella was much calmer. She actually gave me a smile, though a small one, as she saw me to the door.

"See you tomorrow," she said softly. Her hand reached toward me for a moment, but she pulled it back before she touched me. I wished she hadn't.

"See you," I said, holding in my own desire to reach for her.

For once, Rosalie was home when I got there; she and Emmett were curled up on the couch watching a movie. Emmett gave me a friendly wave, but Rosalie ignored me and I ignored her as I crossed the room to Jasper and Alice, sitting on the other couch, Alice in Jasper's lap, Jasper looking over her shoulder to what she was drawing on the tablet in her lap. "Bella had a message for you," I said, a little louder than necessary.

Alice looked up hopefully, but it was Jasper's eyes I met. He looked confused. I went on. "A shifter is passing through here, and he's a tracker - a shifter who tracks nomadic vampires and deals with them if need be. Bella's worried that he might be after Peter and Charlotte."

Jasper's eyes widened. "I - I don't have a way of contacting them."

But Alice turned in her place on his lap, patting him on the shoulder. "Didn't they say they were going to visit the Denalis? Give them a call, and they can pass on the message."

"Right." Jasper let out a breath, then stood in a rush, carefully depositing Alice on the couch. "I'll do it right now." He left the room at a near run.

Alice gave me a smile as Jasper left. _Do I get to meet her yet?_

"Not yet," I said, this time speaking softly. "But probably soon."

 _I can wait a_ little _longer._ She looked back down at her tablet.

I turned now and looked toward Rosalie. Of course she had been listening, and I had read the moment of surprise when I'd explained Bella's warning - surprise to find that she'd protect us. But when I met Rosalie's eyes she looked away from me in a huff. _This doesn't mean I have to trust her._

Someday Rosalie would come around - maybe? She couldn't hold a grudge forever, could she?

I was even more eager for my Bella time on Friday, knowing that it was going to be cut short. She needed her sleep but I was sad I'd miss seeing her for those hours. Some part of me found it funny, how much I liked her, how necessary to my life she was becoming. I was being a little ridiculous. But then again, I was a perpetual teenager, and this was my first love. What else could I have expected from myself?

The best part of the day was still biology. I had gone back to carefully not touching her throughout the day, especially as not only Mike and Jessica but others of our classmates seemed to be watching us and our developing relationship, but there were still fifteen minutes of the movie left in class. Bella sighed as the lights went out, turning to be with an exaggerated distressed expression. "I'm still tired," she whispered.

I offered her my hand, unable to keep from smiling. She smiled back and took my hand, resting her head on her other hand propped up by her elbow on the table. As with yesterday, her thumb soon started stroking the back of my hand, and I sighed noiselessly in contentment.

The rest of the movie was over far too quickly. Her hand slipped from mind as the lights came on, and I curled my fingers inward in a vain attempt to keep her warmth with me longer.

I walked Bella to the gym as usual, parting from her at the entrance to the girl's locker room. I watched her leave, the door closing behind her, before I turned to face Mike behind me. I'd been aware of him following us from biology and knew that he intended to confront me about Bella.

Mike glared at me when our eyes met. "Yes?" I said, keeping my voice smooth.

"You and Bella, huh?" he said, his voice full of resentment.

I raised an eyebrow. "Is something wrong, Newton?"

I caught the brief fear that flashed through his mind as my expression darkened. But to my surprise, he held his ground, even stepping closer to be almost toe-to-toe with me. "I don't trust you," he said, his voice low and tight. "If you do anything to Bella - anything at all -" He stopped for a moment, too angry and worried to put his thoughts into words. I waited impatiently for him to continue. "I'll - I'll - I don't care who you are, I'll -" He had a sudden thought. "I'll tell Chief Swan to keep her away from you."

Mike looked pleased with himself, though of course he couldn't know how legitimate his threat was. I kept my expression calm. "That will be unnecessary," I said crisply. "Ask Bella yourself. She's happy for us to be friends."

Mike regarded me suspiciously for a long moment. "Just watch it," he said finally.

I didn't dignify that with a response, instead stepping around him to get to my last class.

Bella looked a little abashed when I picked her up outside the locker rooms after school. She looked away from me as I approached, giving me only a soft hello as greeting. What incited the sudden change? Had Mike spoken to her as well?

We walked out to my car in silence, but as I began driving Bella spoke. "So... Mike."

"Mike," I repeated.

Bella let out a long sigh. "I don't understand. I know your family has a reputation of being standoffish, but - Mike isn't just jealous. He's actually worried." She glanced at me quickly. "I didn't realize people were actually afraid of you."

I sighed too. "No matter what we actually choose to do, the fact of the matter is that myself and my family are a human's natural predators. And sometimes, no matter how much we try to mask it, humans pick up on that." I was quiet a moment. "Though, of course, his jealousy is not helping."

Bella was biting her lip. "Stop that," I said wearily.

She looked away, out her side window, hiding her expression from me. "I'm beginning to wonder if I should say something to Charlie. It would better than hearing it from Mike or someone else. Maybe... I think he might listen to me, if I told him not to tell the others."

"That's too big a risk," I said quickly. "Once he knows, he can do whatever he wants with that information. He could even agree with you, say he won't tell them, and then change his mind later and tell them anyway."

Bella looked down now, at her hands in her lap. "I wish I could trust him, really trust him," she said, so softly I barely heard.

I was angry, I realized suddenly. I was angry and I wasn't sure why. I continued driving in silence, my hands curled tightly around the steering wheel.

As we neared her house, Bella's quiet voice broke the silence. "You're upset."

I didn't respond.

She pressed on. "Is it Mike? Or Charlie? Or, or me?"

"I really don't know, Bella." I pressed my lips together.

We stopped in front of her house. Her house that, today, she'd be entering without me. I wondered if I was happy about that. I sat still, waiting for her to leave me.

But she didn't. She sat quietly, nearly as still as I was. I could hear her breathing. I could heart her heart beating, a little faster than usual. What was she feeling? What was she thinking? Why wasn't she leaving?

Slowly, hesitantly, Bella reached toward me. She placed her hand on mine, still on the steering wheel. I let out a breath I hadn't realized I'd been holding, and the tightness in my chest eased.

"I'm sorry." I nearly whispered the words. I relaxed my hands, my left coming down to my lap, my right curling around Bella's. I had meant to bring our hands down to my knee, as I'd done before in biology, but as I released the steering wheel Bella pulled our hands toward her. It was her knee that they eventually rested on.

"Just... talk to me," Bella said. "Tell me what you're feeling."

Still not understanding my own feelings, I searched for something to say. I said the first thing that came to mind. "Bella, do you trust me?"

"Let's see... I let you drive me everywhere, you're in my house every day after school while Charlie is away, and I'm spending the whole day with you tomorrow." She chuckled a little, the sound warming my chest. "Of course I trust you."

I could wade through my feelings a little more easily now. "I think... you were talking about Mike, and Chief Swan, and you've talked so much about Jacob... I want to be the most important person in your life."

"You _are_ important," Bella said with a small smile. "But you aren't the only person. Edward, it's okay for me to want to be able to trust and talk to other people. You're important, but you can't be my whole words. Should I be mad that you're close to your siblings and you parents? Should I want to keep you from them so you're all for me?"

The realization broke over me, and I laughed ruefully. "You're right. How do you have this figured out and I don't?"

"Don't get sad again, but it was probably Jacob." I could help sighing a little, but I tried to keep my smile. "I wanted him to be everything for me, but he couldn't. And he was clear about why, and how it isn't even healthy." She shook her head. "That's one of the reasons he was against me coming here. He was worried what I might do, with only Charlie as my support."

"So, in a way," I said slowly, "Jacob should be happy you and I are friends."

Bella laughed. "And I'm so sure he'll see it that way, if he finds out."

I chuckled too, amused by her sarcasm. I loved it when her personality shined through the mask she wore at school. "And now that we've gotten through that...

"It's time for me to leave, huh?" Bella gave me a sad smile. "I'm already used to you coming in with me."

I smiled back reassuringly. "I'll be here tomorrow. You just get your sleep."

"Okay." Bella yawned adorably, and I smiled a little wider. "When will you be over tomorrow?"

"When do you want me over?"

Bella considered a moment. "Well, no earlier than Charlie leaves, of course. He's going fishing with some friends."

That should mean he'd be gone fairly early. Would Bella even be up then? I was probably going to be impatient enough that I'd find out.

For the second time that day, Bella's hand slipped from mine. I watched her walk up to her door and unlock it. She turned and waved to me, and I waved back, swallowing down my disappointment at not being there with her. But it would be worth to have her all to myself tomorrow.


	17. Promise

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "How can you be so calm about it?"

The house was nearly empty when I got home, but Alice was in the front room waiting for me. We'd planned to go hunting together. My last time to fill up and calm down before I spent the day with Bella and her still-enticing scent.

 _How's Bella?_ Alice asked as we started running through the forest.

"Good," I said, immediately deciding to skip over the whole thing in the car, "though tired. Hopefully she'll get some real rest today."

_Not been sleeping?_

"She's been having trouble. And she usually takes a nap after school, but we've been working on homework then instead."

_She must like you._

I knew she did but didn't want to say it out loud, didn't want to admit it to Alice's teasing face. "She doesn't want to fail."

_So... you're going to bring her over on Sunday?_

I gave Alice a glance. "Do you know something I don't?"

She smirked at me. _Had a vision. It could change, but if it doesn't we'll see her on Sunday._

Excitement welled up in my chest. "We'll see what happens tomorrow, then. I hope I can bring her over."

_I'll warn Rose to be on her best behavior._

We split up eventually, each of us after our own prey. I went at top speed, happy to feel the wind in my hair and on my face, and took two deer before meeting up with Alice again. I was completely sated. I would be safe - as safe as possible - around Bella tomorrow.

We headed back at a slower pace, chatting in a half-spoken half-thought conversation about things I'd missed in the family while I was out with Bella: Emmett had finally beaten Jasper in a wrestling match (Jasper suspected he'd cheated somehow); Alice had managed, with Esme's help, to talk Rosalie out of destroying any of my possessions; Esme herself was overcome with happiness and just as eager as Alice to meet Bella, and Emmett was getting curious about her as well. They'd all been speculating as to what Bella could shift into. I smiled, but I didn't say anything.

As we neared the house, I told Alice more about Bella.

How hard she worked at school. Her genuine affection for Chief Swan, even though he was really just a glorified babysitter. Her creativity that I'd caught glimpses of when she doodled in her notebook during class. And, as we slowed to a walk and approached the house, how much I liked her.

"For a while, I thought all I was interested in was her closed mind," I said. "The mystery. And her _scent._ It didn't cross my mind that there could be more than that.

"But that was me selling her short. I do enjoy reading her mind when I can, but that's secondary. And her scent has changed, or I've changed, as I've gotten to know her; I can always pick up on her... spiciness, would be the best way to put it, but the sweetness that's dangerous has faded into the background. What I really like is just her. I'm pleased when she smiles at me. I like that she lets her guard down and chats with me. I love how her eyes light up when she sees me at the door to pick her up for school. I like _her."_

Alice shot me a smile. _I can tell._

I spent the night as I had spent so many others these past few weeks: listening to music in my room while my thoughts were full of Bella. I could hardly wait until morning to see her again. I could barely keep still when I thought about what we'd be sharing, together in the sunlight. I forgot to breathe for minutes at a time as I focused on memories of her dark eyes, her blushes, her head on my shoulder, her hand in mine, her smile as she'd brought our clasped hands to her knee - almost the very first time she'd initiated contact between us. I thought I was going to burst before the night was up. 

But finally, finally, dawn approached. I showered, threw on some clean clothes, and headed downstairs. The sun was just starting to turn the sky gray. I was probably much earlier than Bella had had any idea of, but all she'd said was that I couldn't be there until Chief Swan was gone. So I'd wait until he wasn't - but wait close by, so I could see Bella as soon as possible.

Alice threw me a cheeky _good luck_ as I passed the living room. Esme intercepted me on the way to the garage for a hug. And then I was on my way.

I parked at one end of the street in the spot I usually did while I waited to be able to approach the house to pick up Bella for school. After a moment of looking I found Chief Swan's mind. He was dressed, eating breakfast, and intending to leave soon. I had only a small while to wait, but even that felt like torture. There was no sign of Bella or her mind, though I heard Chief Swan's concern that he might wake her when he accidentally dropped his plate hard in the sink. 

Finally, Chief Swan loaded up his car and drove away. As with all other mornings this week I had my car pulling up to a stop in front of the house by the time he turned the corner at the other end of the street. I barely managed to keep myself at human speed as I exited my car and headed up to the front door. I held my breath, knocked, and waited.

It was close to a minute before I heard even faint stirring in the house. I had to wait another three minutes before footsteps approached the door. So it appeared that Bella had still been asleep - not a surprise, really, considering the hour. But I couldn't find it in myself to feel bad for waking her. It had been 17 hours since I'd last seen her. I didn't want to wait any longer.

The door opened a crack, Bella's face visible in the narrow opening. "Hey you," she said, her voice still thick with sleep. She took a couple of steps back, swinging the door wide while still behind it, letting me inside without revealing herself.

I smiled at her and stepped inside, turning to her as she closed the door behind me. When I saw her, all of her, my eyes went wide and I lost my breath. She was wearing nothing but an oversized sweater, the neckline loose enough to reveal one shoulder, the hem skimming her thighs. I swallowed hard.

She turned to face me and immediately her brows pulled together. "Is something wrong?" she asked sleepily.

"No," I said, but my voice came out a little strangled.

She tilted her head to the side. "Sounds like something's wrong."

I tore my eyes away from her, staring at the wall instead. "I - I thought you'd get dressed before you answered the door."

There was a moment of silence. I pictured to myself how red Bella's cheeks were likely getting - but then, to my surprise, she chuckled. I took the risk of looking back at her only to see her smiling. "Something about how I'm dressed is bothering you?"

I went for vague honesty. "Well, you see, you're hardly dressed at all."

Bella looked down as if considering her outfit. "I'm dressed enough, right? All the important bits are covered." She looked back at me, her eyes opened wide in exaggerated innocence. "I don't always remember all the human rules."

"Then I'm telling you," I said, a little more forcefully than I meant. "It's time for you to put on more clothes."

"Okay..." Bella trailed off into a yawn, one hand covering her mouth, the other stretched over her head. The hem of her sweater rose a couple of inches. If I'd had a working heart, I surely would have had a heart attack then and there.

"Bella," I said in a choked voice, "you're driving me crazy."

"Oops," she said in an entirely unrepentant voice, a sleepy smile on her face. "I guess I'll go change, then." She turned and headed for the stairs. I turned away from her, not trusting myself to not watch her go, and headed into the kitchen.

What had gotten into her? She had been aware enough of her state to keep herself behind the door, but not aware enough to know she was showing me rather more than I had expected? No, she must have known. She must have been teasing me on purpose. She had been getting comfortable with me, but I hadn't thought she would have been anywhere near _this_ comfortable. Was it because she'd still been half asleep?

Several minutes later I heard Bella coming back down the stairs. She entered the kitchen a little hesitantly, her eyes unable to meet mine. She was still wearing the sweater, but now with jeans and a tank top underneath. Soft relief and shameful disappointment warred in my chest. 

"Sorry about that," Bella muttered.

"Sorry about what?"

"I'm... not always myself, when I'm sleepy."

Ah, yes, that made sense. After all, she'd been surprisingly comfortable once before, when she'd fallen asleep on my shoulder. I let out a breath. "It's fine."

She moved past me and started rummaging in the fridge. "I should have told you to wait. I still have to eat before we go."

"I don't mind waiting." It was much better to wait with her than away from her.

Bella prepped food and ate quickly. I was a little surprised at her aptitude as a cook; I'd been bracing myself for the same clumsiness I'd seen plaguing her PE classes and had half expected her to burn herself or start a fire. We talked only a little as she ate and washed her dishes. Then, finally, we headed out to my car.

I could tell as I drove that Bella was nervous. Her hands, clasped tightly together, were trembling. Her face was pale. To try to soothe her, I made sure we talked, discussing the plot, characters, and themes of the book I was helping her read for English class. 

But it wasn't very successful. Bella got more and more quiet as we neared the end of the ride, falling entirely silent by the time I parked the car.

She got out of the car when I did, but as I came around the car to join her I saw that she hadn't moved beyond that. She was leaning back against the car, her head down and her eyes closed, and now her whole body was shaking.

I stopped in front of her, wanting to pull her into my arms but unsure she'd be okay with that. So I spoke instead. "Bella."

"Yeah?" she whispered.

"I promise nothing bad will happen."

Her eyes opened a little, regarding me with something like exasperation. "You can't promise that."

"Sure I can." I stepped closer, trying to maintain eye contact, but she looked away. "Tell me, what bad things could happen?"

She wrapped her arms around herself, holding on tightly. "You might be afraid of me."

I snorted. "Not likely."

"You might think I'm ugly."

"I doubt it."

"You might... want to eat me?"

I laughed. "Impossible."

For a moment a small smile bloomed on Bella's lips, but it soon slipped away. She took a deep breath, her nails digging into her sweater as she spoke. "Jacob and the others are going to find out that I told you everything and that I shifted in front of you and that I kept it from them that you're a vampire and they're going to take me away and kill you and your family and..." she trailed off as she ran out of breath, hunching in on herself and panting.

So that was the real issue, and it wasn't something I could brush off. She was right. If other shifters found out about us, it could have very negative consequences. But just because that was a possibility didn't mean it had to paralyze us. "We'll cross that bridge when we come to it."

Bella looked up at me again, this time holding my gaze, her distressed eyes staring into my calm ones. "You can't just..."

"Yes I can." I held out my hand. Bella stared at me another moment, then carefully relaxed one arm, placing her hand in mine. I squeezed her hand gently, giving her a soft smile. "If the worst happens, we'll get through it together."

Bella breathed out slowly, controlled. "How can you be so calm about it?"

"I don't need to worry about what hasn't happened yet."

Bella didn't quite smile, but she did nod. I took that to mean that she was ready. I turned and led her into the forest. 

I couldn't keep holding her hand as we foraged through the trees, but that didn't mean that I didn't touch her - we were in a wilder part of the trees, far from the usual trails, and the terrain was rough enough to have her stumbling or tripping a few times. Really though, she surprised me with how well she could forage through the terrain next to me. Still, she seemed to have to concentrate to keep her feet under her, and we hardly spoke. I spent the silence looking forward to what we were so close to - what this afternoon would bring.

After a couple of hours of steady hiking, I caught sight of sunlight streaming into my meadow. I walked toward it eagerly, pulling ahead of Bella, before stopping at the edge and turning back to her. I was excited, but now I'd gained a little of Bella's apprehension. I'd been so concerned with soothing her that I hadn't thought - what would she think of me?

Bella caught up to me, looking toward me but unable or unwilling to meet my eyes. "You first," she said quietly.

"All right." I took a deep breath, stripped off my sweater to reveal the short-sleeved shirt underneath, and walked into the sunshine.


	18. Touch

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Isn't this hard for you?"

I turned back to look at Bella as the sun touched my arms. She was staring at me, eyes wide, her mouth hanging open a little. "I don't believe it," she whispered. 

I had to smile. "I told you."

"Yeah, and I knew before, but still -" She stopped, squinting at me.

Though obviously curious, she showed no signs of coming closer. I sat down in the grass and beckoned to her. "Come here." Still she hesitated, so I lay down, closing my eyes and letting her approach in her own time.

Finally I heard her footsteps. They halted next to me and the grass rustled as she sat. There was a moment of silence and stillness, where I was tempted to open my eyes again, but then - warmth.

I held completely still as Bella gently touched the back of my hand, then trailed her fingers slowly up and down my arm. Back at my hand, she picked it up, pulling it toward her. I opened my eyes a little to see her holding it up to her eyes and examining it closely. 

She caught my glance and smiled timidly. "It's so different - hearing about something, and actually seeing it."

I let my eyes drift closed again. "So you can understand why I'm interested in seeing you shift, even though you've told me about it?"

"Yeah." Her voice was more calm, her reluctance and nerves absent for the first time since she'd come down the stairs dressed. "I mean, I still think you're going to think it's weird or something, or that it's just going to be awkward." Her hand tightened momentarily on mine, but relaxed just as quickly. "But I guess you could have thought the same thing about me seeing you."

I chuckled. "I'm always worried you're going to suddenly think I'm too strange. There are so many times you should have run away from me - several that night in Port Angeles, for example." 

"Hm." She laid my hand gently back down in the grass, her fingers sliding up my arm again. She moved a little, coming a little closer to me, touching my shoulder, my collarbone, then the notch at the base of my throat.

Her fingers paused there. "Is this okay?" she asked in a near whisper. 

I replied as honestly as I dared. "I don't think there's anything you could do to me right now that I wouldn't be happy with."

"If you say so." She still sounded a little unsure, but her fingers remained.

Her hand slid up my neck, up to cup my cheek. Her thumb brushed over my cheekbone and I sighed at the touch. her warmth, far stronger than the weak sun that warmed my other cheek, was comforting - but there was also something else. Her touch as her hand and fingers caressed me stirred something deep in my chest. I worked to keep my breathing smooth and even, worried that if I made it clear how much I was liking this, she'd stop.

Her fingertips carefully explored my face, skimming my nose, lightly brushing my eyelids, combing back my hair. I let me lips turn up in a smile as she outlined my jaw.

"You like this?" Bella asked, unsure again.

"You can't tell?" I said with a chuckle.

"Oh." Her hand continued its exploration for a few more moments, brushing back across my collarbone, but after far too short a time her heavenly warmth withdrew. I opened my eyes again, looking at her curiously as she tucked her hands into each other. "Is something wrong?" I asked. 

"I was just wondering..." Bella trailed off, biting her lip. I raised my hand, but she didn't respond, so I gently ran my thumb along her lower lip. She released it then with a puff of air that warmed my hand.

Unwilling to stop touching her now that I had started, I let my hand cup her cheek and my thumb caress her, much as she had done to me. Her eyelids fluttered closed. "Maybe you just answered my question."

"I'd like to hear it, all the same," I said.

I brushed her cheek with my thumb again, and Bella let out a soft sigh. "You've held my hand a few times now," she said quietly. "I was just wondering... if you wanted more. If you wanted to touch me the way I was touching you."

I smiled. "I've just been waiting for you. I didn't want to touch you if you didn't want me to."

She smiled in response, shyly, hesitantly. But I understood. She was indicating her answer - and it was the answer I had hoped for.

Finally touching her, as I'd been dreaming of for weeks, I couldn't be content with just one hand. I sat up carefully, keeping my hand still on her cheek as I did. I sat facing her and brushed her hair away from her face before cupping her other cheek as well. I gently slid both hands down her neck, noting her racing pulse, and imagined my heart beating in time with hers.

"Isn't it -" Bella's eyes opened a fraction. "Isn't this hard for you?" Her hand rose and touched her chest over her heart.

"You do still smell good," I admitted. "But that doesn't matter."

"What do you mean?"

"Don't you remember? I told you by the car." I brought one hand up to cup her cheek again, leaning close until our foreheads were touching, breathing her in. "It's impossible. Bella, I could never hurt you."

Her hand covered mine on her cheek.

I hadn't realized how true those words were until I said them aloud. No matter how tempting her blood was, I couldn't imagine giving in. I meant what I said. I wasn't a bloodthirsty vampire when I was with her. I was simply a boy.

I could have held her forever but I was starting to regain my curiosity. I leaned back again, my eyes roving over Bella's face, noting how content she seemed. Shye slowly opened her eyes and looked back at me. "When is it your turn?" I asked.

Bella immediately bit her lip. This time I didn't warn her; instead I caressed her, my thumb on her lip, moving too quickly for her to let go before I did. Her lips were so soft. I swallowed hard, momentarily distracted, imagining...

But Bella interrupted my thoughts with a sigh. "I guess now is as good a time as any."

She rose to her feet, my hands dropping as she moved, and backed a couple of steps away from me. "You have to close your eyes," she said. "The shift can be weird to watch. And I have to take my clothes off first."

I gulped. "You... aren't wearing clothes when you shift?"

"Of course not. We'd ruin them whenever we shifted."

"So... then... others have..." I couldn't finish.

She tilted her head to the side. "Are you trying to ask if I've shifted around others?" I nodded. "Yeah, other shifters. It's no big deal for us, being naked. But I know it's a big deal for humans, which is why you have to close your eyes."

"All right." I closed my eyes and waited, trying not to think about it.

I wasn't very successful. I could hear Bella's clothes rustling as she removed them. The sun warmed my cheeks, making me feel almost as if I was blushing; my thoughts returned to when I'd seen Bella this morning, wearing nothing but a sweater as she'd yawned...

_You can look now._

I hastily banished my memories as Bella's voice entered my mind. I could only hope that she hadn't had time to see them. I opened my eyes.

A large wolf, fur the same dark brown as Bella's hair, was staring me down only a few paces away.

Even knowing it was Bella, I automatically tensed - after all, the only time I came this close to large animals was when I was hunting. But the tense moment was brief. Looking into the wolf's eyes, I could see Bella looking back at me.

She was sitting on her haunches, keeping her distance from me. I smiled at her, hoping to put her at ease as her worry and apprehension swirled in her mind. "You have nothing to worry about. You're still you."

I was unused to having another read my mind, and realized as I spoke that Bella had already gathered the meaning of the words before I spoke them. She believed me. She had to, since she was reading my meaning directly from my mind. She relaxed a little. _I have to worry. I've never shown myself to anyone who wasn't a shifter._

This time I didn't bother speaking aloud. _Thank you for showing me._

We stared at each other a long moment, neither of us thinking of anything specific. I could still sense some apprehension in her mind, but she was growing calmer every moment, as she could hear nothing in my mind to alarm her. In fact I was intrigued. She tilted her head to the side, forming a question. _You still want to touch me?_

_Always._

She was a little surprised, but after a moment rose to all four paws and padded softly over to me, her almost-human eyes holding mine. She stopped directly in front of me and softly lowered herself to the ground, her head in my lap. I placed my hand on her head and she closed her eyes.

I gently pet her head, her fur soft under my fingers. Her ears felt like silk. I stroked downward, running my fingers down her leg, over her paw. 

_Has Chief Swan seen you like this?_ Could they live together without him ever seeing her in wolf form?

 _I just told you you're the first non-shifter I've shifted for._ She was embarrassed by the very idea of Chief Swan seeing her in this form.

How had she even ended up with him?

_There are a few humans, safe ones, who know of us and keep the secret. They give us information, they let shifters stay with them sometimes, and occasionally do what Charlie is doing for me - watch over young ones who can't live with other shifters._

I thought back to when Bella had first been introduced to the school. _Your last name isn't Swan, then._

 _I don't really have a last name._ The sentence was accompanied by a memory - Jacob's amusement when he'd heard she'd be called Swan, and animal name, but not at all the one she actually was.

I couldn't help a little jealousy flaring in my mind as Jacob's face crossed hers. She caught it, but wasn't sure what it meant, and looked up at me with questioning eyes and mind. I sighed, embarrassed to admit it. _I was jealous of him. I thought he was my rival._

 _Jealous? Rival?_ She repeated the words in her mind as if she'd never heard them before.

 _He looked like he was close to you._ My own memory of her time with him, what I saw in Alice's vision, ran through my mind. _He was close to you, and I wanted to be._

Thinking that, I couldn't help but remember the other one I'd been jealous of; Mike's face flashed through my mind, and Bella caught it. _I was jealous of him too._ I thought back to that month and a half when she wouldn't talk to me, but talked to Mike every day at the lunch table and in biology.

_But you're the one I've shown my real self to._

An almost overwhelming feeling rose in my chest, one I didn't bother trying to identify. I let my thoughts drift into vagueness, and Bella did the same. For a while we simply sat, enjoying the day, the sunshine, and each other's company. I knew it was a long time since Bella had felt comfortable leaving her mind open. And for me, it was the first time anyone had been in my mind at all.

We'd been in the meadow about two hours when Bella started thinking of other things - specifically, lunch. She gently got up from my lap, walked a few paces from me, and shook and stretched out her wolf body. She glanced back at me, a thought crossing her mind. _Wanna race?_

I smiled, smug, sure I would beat her. She was skeptical of my confidence. _You'll have to carry my clothes._

I gathered her clothes and my sweater, wrapping them in a compact bundle and tucking it under my arm. _Ready?_

She responded by leaping into a run.

She _was_ fast, I had to give her that. I'd never moved close to my full speed with her before and had assumed she'd been underestimating vampire speed, but she nearly kept pace with me. What won me the race was the fact that I'd been in these woods countless times, and could anticipate trees and rocks and other obstacles better than Bella could. On even ground she might have beaten me.

As it was, I burst from the tree cover a moment or two ahead of her, skidding to a stop by the car. I turned to see Bella collapse on the ground behind me, panting hard. I would have been worried had her mind not assured me she was merely winded - while she had the speed, she didn't have anywhere near the endurance a vampire did. I walked back to her and dropped her clothes by her side.

She made her way up to her paws and took the clothes gently in her mouth, turning to head back at least partly into the trees for privacy. _No looking._

I smiled and obliged, turning back to face the car as I pulled on my sweater.

Her mind closed before she shifted, and I was left with only my own thoughts again. In some ways it was comforting. In other ways, I felt very alone.

I turned back to Bella when I heard her walking toward me, now on two feet, in human form, and dressed. She grinned at me. "I'm almost as fast as you."

I laughed. "You are." But I was distracted. Sher was relaxed, it was clear from her posture, and flushed from the run. She came fairly close to me, stopping less than a foot away, her head tilted as she took in my expression. "You're thinking something."

Apparently she could read more than my mind. "I... want to try something."

She looked intrigued. "Try what?"

I held out my hand. She gave me hers, and I drew her gently closer to me, until our bodies were nearly touching. Her eyes stayed on mine, a curious light in them as she waited to see what I would do. I cupped her cheek with my other hand, and her lips parted in a soft sigh.

"May I kiss you?" I asked in a quiet murmur.

She blushed, but nodded. I gently pressed my lips to hers.

We both held perfectly still but even that simple touch was almost overwhelming. I pulled back again quickly, worried what Bella thought of our kiss, but her eyes were sparkling. She grinned at me as our eyes met. 

I leaned back in. She responded eagerly this time, her lips moving against mine, her breath coming in gasps as I pulled away and came back again; a thousand excited kisses. Her scent intensified around me, but it awakened a hunger rather than a thirst. My hand slipped into her hair. Her hands grasped my collar. I leaned back against the car and put my arm around her waist, pulling her body snug against mine.

I wanted to stay like this forever, kissing her, touching her, but the sun was shining and I couldn't risk being seen. After a few moments I reluctantly pulled away, taking time to admire her, cuddled close to me, smiling and breathless. 

"I love you." The words slipped out before I could think better of them.

Bella's already thumping heart increased in speed. "I - I don't know how I'd know if I loved you," she said, sounding embarrassed. "But... I like this. I like _you."_

It was good enough. We could continue figuring things out from here. I stroked her cheek, planting one light kiss on her forehead, then released her. "Let's get you home to lunch."


	19. Family

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "You have got to quit teasing me like that."

We both climbed into the car. Once I started it I snagged Bella's hand, clasping it in mine. She gave me a shy smile.

"I've been wondering something," I said as I began the drive home.

"Oh?"

"Well..." I glanced at her. "Several members of my family would be very happy to meet you."

Bella grew still. "Really?"

I nodded. "Alice, of course, can barely wait to start the friendship she saw in her vision. Esme wants to meet you because you've made me happy. Carlisle wants to ask you about yourself; he's curious about shifters and what they are, exactly. Emmett is looking forward to teasing you nearly as much as he teases me." I threw in an obvious eyeroll for that last one.

I left out Jasper, who wasn't sure how he felt, and Rosalie, who was still being... well, Rosalie. 

"You mean... you want me to come over to your house?"

"Yes, if you would be comfortable with that."

Bella considered a moment. "When?"

"Tomorrow?"

She was biting her lip. I chuckled and brought our clasped hands up so I could tap her with my finger. 

She released her lip with a sigh. "Are you going to keep doing that forever?"

"It's a bad habit," I said. "I've seen you chew your lip until it's swollen."

"Fine." Bella was quiet a moment. "And, fine. Okay. I'll come see your family tomorrow."

"You don't have to sound so excited about it," I said, trying to tease in order to hide that I was disappointed in her lackluster response.

Bella's shoulders hunched. "I'm worried! They all seem to have expectations of me already."

Ah, so that was it. "Yes, they all expect to like you."

"Well... if you say so."

We were both quiet a moment. Bella began stroking my hand again, as she had done the two times we'd held hands in biology. Even after all the touching we'd done today that simple caress was still incredibly enthralling. I almost jumped when Bella asked a question. "What powers do the rest of your family have?"

"Hmm." I took a moment to gather my scattered thoughts. "Well. You know that Alice can see the future."

"Mhm."

"Carlisle, my father, can see people's physical weaknesses," I continued. "Where they're hurting, for example. He's a doctor at the hospital and his power helps him diagnose people who come in and figure out the best way to help them."

Bella nodded. "That's cool."

"Esme works with her hands, from the conception and technical drawing all the way to making the finished product. She built almost every non-electronic item we have in the house: tables, chairs, desks, even decorative items like pottery and paintings. She also sells items through various front companies, which is where we get most of our money."

Bella's eyes had lit up during this explanation, but she simply nodded again, encouraging me to continue.

"Emmett is perhaps the most simple; he's incredibly strong and nearly indestructible - even more so than a regular vampire.

"Jasper, on the other hand, is the most subtle. He's very charismatic, and able to influence feelings in other people. He can calm down a situation, or incite a fight."

"Charismatic," Bella repeated to herself, as if to cement the word in her mind. "You didn't mention him when you were talking about your family earlier."

I hesitated, but she trusted me. I shouldn't hide things from her if she asked even if I was worried how she'd take it. "He's... not against meeting you. He can't be, since Alice is his mate and she's over the moon about you. But..." Was there a delicate way to put this? Probably not.

"Most of us in the family have been non-human drinkers for as long as we've been vampires." I skipped over my little hiccup for now. "But Jasper... he had a different life, for many years. It wasn't until Alice found him that he switched to animals, and since he had that long habit... it's hard for him. Harder than for the rest of us."

"Oh," Bella said quietly. She seemed to understand, and I was relieved I wouldn't have to explain further.

"And then there's Rosalie." I had deliberately saved her for last. Bella was too bright not to realize that Rosalie's power would directly affect her. "She can sort of see... auras, I suppose we could call them. She can tell when people are lying, or hiding secrets, and it's her life's goal to ferret them all out."

Bella nodded. "So because she doesn't know my secrets - that's why she hates me."

I flinched. I hadn't realized Bella was that perceptive - or had Rosalie been too obvious around her? "It's me she hates right now. She's stubborn, and she can't get over the fact that I actively kept your secrets from her."

"But she still doesn't like me." It was a comment, not a question.

"Not really," I said. "But you leave her to me. Even Emmett is starting to get tired of her attitude."

"And Emmett is her mate?" Bella asked.

I nodded. Eager to change the subject, I started talking about Emmett again, and from there the other acceptable members of the family. I told her stories about each of them, times when each of their powers had shone, until we reached Bella's house.

I gladly followed her inside and watched as she prepared her lunch and ate. She was much calmer now than this morning, and we chatted about inconsequential matters - our favorite colors and that sort of thing, silly topics that often buoyed up a budding relationship. Then, as promised, we got back to her homework. She was needing my help less and less, but it was clear she liked to have me there anyway - for motivation if nothing else.

And, of course, she still needed my help with reading. After about an hour of homework we headed toward the couch. Bella paused to grab the blanket again. I sat while she did, and when she turned my direction I opened my arms to her. She tilted her head with a puzzled expression and I had to smile. "Come here," I said.

She approached me slowly. I gently grabbed her arm and pulled her down on my lap, quickly shaking out and smoothing the quilt so it covered both of us. She settled into my lap easily enough, but once seated, she looked up at me quizzically. "Why are we sitting like this?"

I had to laugh. "Because I want to be close to you," I said. "And we'll both see the book even more easily this way."

Finally she smiled. "If you say so."

Despite her initial confusion she cuddled into my chest easily enough, her head on my shoulder as she opened the book. I wrapped my arms around her, holding the quilt in place, and we got to reading. 

It was much too early for there to have been marked improvement, so we still labored through sentences and paragraphs. We spent an hour or so getting through several pages when Bella yawned, suddenly and violently. "Nap time?" I asked.

She scoffed a little. "It was just a yawn! I'm fine."

"You're sure?"

"I mean, you did get me awfully early..." Bella tipped her head back to look accusingly up at me.

"And I paid for it."

Her eyes went wide. "What, you didn't like seeing me right after I woke up?"

"It's not that I didn't like seeing you..." I said, backpedaling, but then I saw the smirk creeping onto Bella's face. "You have got to quit teasing me like that."

"Mm... nope." Bella giggled her herself. "After all, you tease me all the time."

We were both quiet a moment. Bella didn't return to reading. "I something wrong?" I asked.

"Just thinking about what happened last time we were on the couch," she said. "Charlie's gone until tomorrow late afternoon, but if Jacob's around Leah might be too, and she might stop by."

"Leah? Another shifter?"

She nodded. "She and Jacob are partners - both trackers. Friends too, somehow. Leah can be... difficult."

"Difficult?"

"She and Rosalie would get along like a house on fire. Or is it oil and water? I get those two mixed up."

I laughed. "Either way, that's something I'd almost like to see."

Eventually we got back to reading, but Bella didn't let me stay as late as she normally did. She'd talked herself into being nervous someone else might stumble upon us. She promised that, to make up for it, I could come over early again tomorrow morning. Still, I parted from her with reluctance. But for the first time I thought I saw a matching reluctance in her eyes.

Bella's 'not yet' had changed. I didn't know if it was quite a 'yes' yet, but it was something close to that... perhaps a 'soon.' She had let me kiss her, after all. Let me and participated eagerly. I felt warm all over just remembering it and I couldn't keep a smile off my face as I drove.

The cars parked outside and the thoughts in the house prepared me for the fact that, for once, everyone was home. I tried to enter as quietly as possible, but everyone seemed to have been waiting for me.

Alice was the first to reach me, bounding out of the living room into the hall to give me a hug. Her mind sang her joy - she already knew that I was bringing Bella over tomorrow. "I can't wait!" she squealed aloud.

Jasper followed her, and his face and mind spoke his concern. _You're sure about bringing her here? What if..._ He didn't need to put his worries into words for me to understand them.

Alice followed my gaze to also look at Jasper. She sighed. _I keep telling him it will be all right!_

But I ignored her pouting expression and acknowledged Jasper's concerns. "If you're that worried about it, you can simply keep your distance until you know how you're going to react to her. I'm sure she won't mind."

"How do you manage it?" Jasper spoke aloud now, for Alice's benefit. he knew Bella smelled good, and that she'd smelled particularly good to me when I first met her. "How can you stand being so close to her all the time?"

I shrugged. "It's no longer an issue. Her blood always had a more spicy note to it that, now that I know, marks her as non-human. I focus on that aspect of her blood and I don't have a problem."

Jasper was still wary, but I didn't have more time for him; Esme and Carlisle had come down the stairs, and Jasper and Alice had to back off as Esme swooped in with a motherly hug. "I assume your day with Bella went well," she said, noting the smile on my face, my relaxed posture. "And I understand we will meet her tomorrow?"

I nodded, then looked behind Esme to meet my father's eyes. "She's coming, and she knows there may be questions."

 _She is a brave girl._ Carlisle was proud of me, and in a way, of her as well. He had still retained some doubts all this week but now they were relaxing. "I look forward to meeting her."

I was glad, but there were still two in the house who I hadn't heard from. A door slammed, and Emmett came down the stairs alone. Rosalie was apparently going to stay behind in their room. I had guessed that would be her reaction. Disappointing, but honestly I hadn't expected any more from her.

"So she's really coming over?" Emmett asked. _That little girl is going to just wander into a house full of vampires?_

I nodded. "I think she's looking forward to meeting everyone."

Emmett looked around, taking the emotional temperature of the room. _Rose isn't happy, but I'll work on that._

I shrugged. Was Rosalie ever going to be happy about this?

"Is there anything we can do to make sure she's comfortable?" Esme asked.

I smiled at my family - well, the part of my family I wasn't currently feuding with. "Just be yourselves, and be patient. Bella is still very shy."

Alice spoke in a very serious tone. "I'm still going to give her a hug."


	20. Emotion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Don't tempt me."

I gave Bella as much time as I could, on pins and needles all night long, before I finally could stand it no longer and ran down to my car. I was cautious as I approached her street, but the police car was gone. I parked and headed up to the front door.

Bella answered within a minute, smiling when she saw me. "You waited so much longer today!" she said, her teasing clear in her voice.

"You're up, that's all that matters, right?" I said, smiling back. "Are you ready?"

She laughed, probably at the clear eagerness in my voice. "Almost. Come in."

I entered, assuming as I looked at her that she hadn't been awake long; she was wearing what were obviously pajamas (at least they covered her this time!) and her hair was still messy from sleep.

I followed Bella into the kitchen. She sat at a half-finished plate and resumed her breakfast - an egg today, I noted. The smell in the kitchen was stronger than I would have liked, and I wrinkled my nose.

"What?" Bella asked, after swallowing a bite.

"Don't be offended, but your food smells terrible."

"Let's not trust your nose," Bella said mildly. "After all, you think I smell like food."

"Point taken." I sat down at the table across from her and watched her eat.

She was done quickly, probably hurried on by my presence, and cleaned her dishes in a few quick movements. "I'll be right back," she said, heading for the stairs.

"I could come help you if you want," I said.

She looked back at me, eyebrows raised. "You'd like that, wouldn't you."

I smiled. "Just hurry, please? I'll miss you."

Bella snickered, obviously taking it as a joke, then hurried up the stairs.

It wasn't entirely a joke.

But thankfully she did come back soon. She almost always wore jeans and t-shirts or casual sweaters to school, but today she was wearing some nicer pants and a slim-cut red blouse. Her hair was neatly braided to one side and hung over her shoulder.

I met her eyes, and I could easily see the nervousness in them. She halted at the bottom of the stairs. "Do I look okay?"

"You always look okay." I crossed the kitchen in a few easy strides and pulled her into my arms.

"I don't believe you," Bella muttered into my chest, where she'd buried her face as if to hide. But she also hugged me back, her arms wrapping tightly around me. I wondered for a brief moment If, possibly, I was beginning to supplant Jacob in her mind when it came to a comforting embrace.

I eventually relaxed my arms, pulling a little away from her so I could look at her face. She smiled, looking amuch more relaxed. I smiled back and brought my head closer until our foreheads were touching. "May I?"

Bella's cheeks pinked. "Yeah."

For the third time in two days I brought my lips to hers. I'd meant to to be sweet, soft, reassuring, but then Bella hummed a little in her throat, pulling me closer, her hand traveling up my body to tangle in my hair. I couldn't help but respond with more emotion myself. Her other hand grabbed my shirt and she leaned back against the wall, pulling me towards her as she did. I followed, one hand on the wall by her head to keep me from getting close enough that I might accidentally hurt her.

I gasped a little as Bella broke away from my lips. "Bell -" But I couldn't finish, distracted as she dove for my neck, placing hot kisses along my throat. I swallowed hard. "Bella," I said, embarrassed by how much my voice sounded like a moan.

Bella kissed my collarbone, then moved away and rested her head on my shoulder. "We have to go see your family, huh?"

"I mean, if there's something else you'd like to do..." I trailed off, stroking her back.

"Don't tempt me." Bella pushed me back gently, giving herself space as she smiled ruefully.

I ran my fingers through my hair to try to tame it a little. It was always a little messy, but Bella had really gone to town on it. "Where is this coming from, if you don't mind my asking? What happened to the Bella who couldn't look me in the eye?"

Bella shrugged, looking a little abashed. "I feel comfortable with you, really comfortable, and I just... I wanted to. So I did." Her gaze dropped. "Does it bother you?"

"No!' I said quickly. "No, not at all. I - you surprised me. But that certainly doesn't mean I didn't like it."

"Okay." Bella sighed, looking back up at me. "This is still so weird to me. All these feelings." She loosely wrapped her arms around herself, not looking anywhere near as small and sad as she usually did when she wrapped herself up. "I've never felt like this before. Have you?"

I shook my head. "Never."

"Oh." She smiled a little, her hands falling back to her sides. "At least we're figuring it out together."

We left soon after. Her nervousness returned as we drove. I took her hand, stopping her from pulling at the collar of her shirt. "We're almost there."

She flashed me a tremulous smile. "Are you sure it's going to be all right?"

I nodded. "My family is excited to meet you." Well, not Rosalie, but maybe she'd make a good decision for once and simply not show up.

Looking ahead with my mind as I parked I saw that everyone was gathered in the living room, so I took Bella there. Jasper was sitting in a chair with Alice perched on his lap, Emmett and Rosalie were on one of the couches, and Carlisle and Esme had come forward to meet us right inside the doorway of the front room. 

I looked over Carlisle's shoulder, meeting Rosalie's eyes for a brief moment. She looked just as angry as usual, and I narrowed my eyes. She glared back at me. _I'll be civil,_ she thought sarcastically.

Bella was clinging to my hand, half hiding behind me as she stared into the room. I pulled on her hand a little, getting her to step forward until she was even with me in the doorway. She gulped, but then spoke. "Hello."

That one word, and I was already so proud of her. She'd faced a whole family of vampires and been the first one to speak.

Esme had broken into a huge smile when Bella spoke. She came forward, offering Bella a hug. "I'm Esme. I'm so glad to meet you, my dear."

Bella released my hand, took a deep breath, and then stepped into Esme's hug. As they stepped back from each other, Bella surprised me by looking into Esme's eyes. "Edward told me you work with your hands," Bella said, her voice trembling faintly. "Including all the technical drawings. I draw, but only portraits and flowers and things like that. Do you think you could teach me about technical drawing sometime?"

Esme was clearly surprised, but her smile widened. "Of course," she said. "Any time you'd like."

Bella nodded and moved back to my side again. Carlisle now approached her, holding out his hand for Bella to shake. "I'm Carlisle. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Thank you, Carlisle," Bella said. Her voice was getting stronger. "Edward told me you work at the hospital. I've been so afraid of getting hurt here, since a hospital trip would probably reveal I'm not human. If I ever need help, would you be willing to see me?"

Carlisle was also surprised, but he hid it better. He only smiled. "Please, do come see me if you're ever hurt."

"Thank you."

Carlisle and Esme headed toward one of the couches now, leaving us open to the rest of the room. Alice was nearly bouncing out of her seat. Bella smiled when she saw her and, to my astonishment, opened her arms. "I bet you want a hug, Alice."

 _Yes!_ Alice squealed in joy and immediately vacated Jasper's lap, bounding over and nearly attacking Bella with an enthusiastic hug. I was a little worried, nearly stepping up to stop her, but Bella caught Alice easily - apparently, she was stronger than she looked. I should have guessed. "I'm glad to meet you too," Bella said with a laugh, obviously understanding what Alice hadn't said in words.

Alice stepped back, grinning up at Bella. "Jasper's also happy to meet you, but he's staying away to be safe."

Bella looked toward Jasper, giving him a wave. "Sorry I'm so young," she said, with quiet sincerity. "I'd smell different if I was older."

Jasper blinked, then smiled. The faint tension in the room immediately vanished. "It's not your fault at all," he said. "Hopefully I'll just get used to you, as Edward has."

As Jasper finished speaking, Emmett rose from the couch, leaving Rosalie alone. She acted as if she hadn't noticed.

Emmett approached Bella with a serious expression, with only a side glance at me and a warning. _You stay out of this._ He wanted to tease her. I shot him a look, but stayed back.

Emmett solemnly offered Bella his hand. "Hi. I'm Emmett."

Bella took his hand. The muscles in his arm tensed as he prepared to pull Bella off her feet and into his arms for a hug. But Bella smiled innocently and pulled her hand away at the last moment. "Nice to meet you," she said.

Emmett raised his eyebrows, staring at her, then burst into laughter. "I should have known Edward would like someone sneaky," he said. He held out his arms. "Fine then, may I please have a hug?"

"Sure!" Bella giggled a little as she nearly disappeared in Emmett's large embrace. 

"Okay," Emmett said, letting Bella go, "but I have one question I've been dying to ask."

"Yeah?"

"Edward told us you're a shapeshifter. What can you shapeshift into? I have to tell you, I have my money on hamster."

Bella blushed. Jasper looked away, but no one else seemed to be affected; they all were watching her curiously. "Well..." Bella paused for a quick breath. "I'm a wolf."

"What, like some kind of spindly little skinny wolf?" Emmett asked. 

"No, a normal wolf."

Emmett looked at me, and I nodded. "Can confirm."

"Huh." Still looking like he was puzzling over it, Emmett moved away again, back to the couch.

That left Rosalie as the only person Bella hadn't addressed, and who hadn't addressed her. She was still sitting on the couch acting as if none of us were here, inspecting her nails with a detached air, though I knew she was listening keenly to everything that was going on.

"Hi, Rosalie."

Rosalie jumped a little when Bella said her name. She kept her eyes on her nails. "Hello, Bella."

"Do you have any questions you'd like to ask me?"

A million questions swirled up in Rosalie's mind. It turned out she was nearly as curious about Bella as I was, in her way. But all she said was "What do you mean?"

Bella's smile was starting to look a little strained. Everyone in the room was staring at her, all of them a little concerned. I stepped forward and put an arm around her waist but didn't interfere. "I was just wondering if there's anything you want to ask me. I promise I'll answer."

"Fine, I'll ask you something," Rosalie said, her voice bitter. "Why is everything you do and say a lie?"

"Rose." Emmett put a hand on her arm. 

Rosalie ignored him. "Got an answer for that, _Isabella?"_

Bella had tensed at the question, but so far, she was still standing firm. "Well... I bet if I had your power, and didn't know who you were, you'd look like a walking lie too, wouldn't you?" I bit back a chuckle. Bella, my precious scared Bella, was trying to fight fire with fire. God, I loved this girl.

Rosalie's face soured at Bella's terminology, recognizing it. "Oh, so Edward's been not only reading all my thoughts, _as always,_ he's also been relaying them to you, his... little plaything," she spat out. "How noble of him."

But Bella looked confused. "No, he never said that. That's what you called me last week when you glared at me in the hallway."

Rosalie stiffened, her eyes narrowing. _No. No. NO. Edward, how DARE you._ "Do you mean," she said with venom-laced calm, "that you can read minds too?"

Bella froze, and blushed, and my stomach dropped. "I - I thought - I thought that he'd -"

 _You BASTARD._ Rosalie stood in a rush. "Great," she said aloud. "Perfect. You two are _quite_ the pair." She left the room at a near-run, her mind a tumble - but I caught a hint of an emotion I hadn't expected. Embarrassment. 

She was embarrassed that Bella had heard all the terrible things Rosalie had been thinking about her. Perhaps there was hope for Rosalie after all?

"Well then." Bella's voice was shaking again, her eyes focused on the floor, but still she spoke. "Yes, I can read minds. All shifters can. But we can turn ours on and off. I'm not reading anyone's thoughts right now. My mind is usually closed around Edward."

Carlisle nodded. "Edward did mention once that he couldn't always read your mind. _I am curious, Edward, but she looks like she could use a break. We have time._

I let out a breath and snuggled Bella a little closer. "We're heading up to my room," I said. I turned and led Bella away.

**Author's Note:**

> I am now open to beta works for free! I'm willing to look at up to 2000 words per person per week, and I can do everything from giving advice on a rough draft to proofreading a final draft. Just send me a message!


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